


Broken Crown

by many_stories_untold



Category: Undertale (Video Game)
Genre: F/M, I’m sure I’ll add more as I go, Post-Undertale Pacifist Route, Rating subject to change, Reader Is Not Frisk (Undertale), Self made magic rules, Slow Burn, Suicide mention, both in the use of magic and the governing of magic circles, erevast appears, i like political intrigue OKAY, magical systems, no beta we die like men, one beta we die like men, papyrus and frisk are just friends, slow update
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2019-07-01
Updated: 2020-03-22
Packaged: 2020-05-31 16:25:49
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence
Chapters: 22
Words: 36,914
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/19429726
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/many_stories_untold/pseuds/many_stories_untold
Summary: Monster emerged from the Underground not too long ago, but Beatrix Barthe really has more important things to worry about. Like the huge influx of wild magic now under her care.





	1. Chapter 1

It wasn’t the best scooter, but it still ran and did not require a lot of gas. That was a good thing since her government paycheck was comfortable so long as she did not fall to excess.

She was lucky, in a lot of ways, to have a house, a steady livable income, and a guaranteed job at 23. Many people would attribute it to her birth, and, well, they weren’t wrong. She was, after all, a witch, and it was, after all, something one was born as. Being a witch she was automatically an employee of the government (though it was in the loosest terms). All but a few of her responsibilities were something she would be doing anyways, as taught to her by her mother, so might as well get paid for it.

She was warden of the local magic well, and was in charge of tending it. She was the local curse lifter, charm giver, and monster healer (the last being a relatively new title that even her mother’s mother could not have prepared her for). Being called on in the event of a nation threatening war, and having to attend biannual covent meetings (despite not being part of a specific one; she was of the national one but everyone was) were the two state assigned responsibilities she had.

It was to the latter that she was headed.

Until three years ago she had held a relatively small, weak level of importance in the national witch covenant. Then, of course, the barrier had fallen, and all that latent magic had to go somewhere. Mt. Ebott observed her commute with an almost smug shadow. Her well had been one of two closest. Overnight she had become warden to the largest well in the country. Overnight every covenant wanted her, something she had wanted for a long time.

The light was painfully bright when one opened their eyes.

The dark, middle aged guard smiled at her with laziness brought upon by familiarity. There was a new, furry face there today. The giant dog in armor wagged its tail with excitement though kept himself professional. He held out a paw.

“He’d like to see your i.d. Bea,” the guard, Frank, said. She nodded, pulled it, and showed it to him. The big dog barked once after some scrutiny, and handed it back.

“New hire?” She asked as the dog bent its head for Frank to scratch.

“Sure is. Didn’t you hear? Got Royalty in town,” he said, and then laughed at her blank face. “You need to get out of that forest once and awhile Bea. Her Majesty Lady Hoepful, the King, and the ambassador have returned for the foreseeable future.”

Bea, that is, Beatrix’s mouth fell open in a little ‘o’. Maybe she did need to get off her land now and then. She had met the King and Queen once. Well, she didn’t actually meet them, but had been present when the Grand Supreme (the Warden of the Nation’s Witches and Wells) had been presented to them. She had been in the back most rows, and had not met them personally.

“Best be getting in kiddo. You’re running a bit late,” he said. She shook herself, and gave him a parting wave. She entered the old town hall.

The main hall was huge, relatively speaking. The town at the base of Mt. Ebott was just that, a small town. Maybe a third of the monsters that had come from the mountain had settled there, but it had efficiently doubled the size of it. The hall was packed with witches and wizards. Those within a three hour radius were required, but many more were in attendance. The Grand Supreme was there, and she had a number of clingers.

“Late as ever Beatrix,” Lady Madeline said with a kind smile. Beatrix smiled slyly in response.

“Waiting for you to pick our spots first, naturally,” she replied, and Madeline laughed. It was an easy, familiar exchange. Madeline was Beatrix’s aunt in all but blood. She had been her mother’s dearest friend, and had been her apprentice sister when they had been taken on. They had joined the Hemlock Covenant together. Madeline had most loudly protested the same covenant’s expulsion of her mother, and denial to Beatrix’s own acceptance. Now that the Hemlock Covenant wanted Beatrix it was Madeleine who had told her not to. Not that she had needed to warn Beatrix. The Supreme of that covenant, Lady Magda, was a power grabbing women whose own well was neglected. Beatrix was no fool.

“And naturally, I have,” Madeline said, and offered her arm. Beatrix took it easily. If the fates had been different Madeline would have become Beatrix’s Covenant Mother when her own had passed. But as it was she could only ever help from afar after Beatrix had hit her majority. Still, she had done much.

Madeline took them to seats in the middle of the tiered rows. The Grand Supreme would sit at the raised dais in the center of the room when she deigned to join them. Another dias had been added, though slightly lower. There were three seats. Beatrix could only guess it was for the royal family,

The room was getting steadily warmer, but no one present would dare perform magic in her ward. It would be considered incredibly rude, and a blatant threat depending on the person. Beatrix herself, who had come in a tank and shorts, felt no desire to cool the room for them.

“Bit petty don’t you think?’ Madeline asked. Beatrix could see Magda sweating and cross. It was petty. She did not alter the temperature of the room.

At last the Grand Supreme entered, and a wave of cool air crossed the crowd. She was the one woman in attendance who had the right to perform magic freely without consent. She had to be helped to the dias by one of her assistants. She was old, one of the eldest Grand Supremes they had ever had. Her reign had been marked with peace and prosperity. Everyone ignored her seeming frailness. Her magic was connected to every well in the country which made her the strongest person in the room. If she did not have ancient magics binding her she could easily perform a number of nearly impossibly or dark magic, and crush anyone that attempted to displace her. Not that she would like some of her predecessor had tried to. Their current Grand Supreme was a fair woman.

Behind her came the royal couple. The queen was carrying the ambassador, and the king his trident. The three took their seats on the Grand Supreme’s side. That is, the two adults sat. The child stayed with the queen.

The Grand Supreme’s smile was kind, and she bade them all to sit. They had, of course, stood upon her entrance.

Beatrix sat. Despite the importance of the meeting her attention drifted. She noticed the royal guards had taken up place around the royal family. Two tall monsters in full armor. One had bright red hair in a ponytail. The other a bright red scarf. She noticed another monster in the shadows of the dias, but she couldn’t make them out.

Besides that, the meeting was as boring as she thought it would be, and her attention quickly started to drift.


	2. Chapter 2

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Does the format look okay for everyone?

Beatrix was not surprised when this little matter came up again near the end of the meeting.

“I make the motion that the Ebott Well be given to my custody, Grand Supreme,” Magda said, standing, when the older woman had asked for additional issues. The majority of the meeting had been checking in with everyone in the immediate area, on their wells, their apprentices, and themselves. There had also been some pointed questions about the quality of life for the monsters in their area. Beatrix had not been able to answer as well as she would’ve liked.

Frank was right, she needed to get off her land more often.

“Beatrix?” the Grand Supreme asked.

“Denied,” she said airily. Magda sniffed in disdain.

“She is a child, she has no responsibility tending to such a vast well.” Beatrix graced Magda with a sweet smile, so sweet as to give cavities.

“She has passed her majority some time ago, there is no reason she is unfit to tend to the Well,” the Grand Supreme said. There was a note of boredom in her voice. This was an uninvited guest of a topic, but one no one could politely ask to leave.

“Rot on her majority! She is a child!”

“I do hope you aren’t suggesting that those of her age are unfit to be Wardens, Lady Magda,” the Grand Supreme said sharply. Magda backpedaled, realizing her mistake. The Grand Supreme had been appointed her position just months older than Beatrix was now. It was well known. She was not only their eldest Grand Supreme in some time, but had also been their youngest.

“That is not what I meant Your Supremacy. She neglects her duties as her mother before her did,” Magda said firmly. There was a tension in the room. Beatrix stood, slowly, her whole will directed at the older woman. The air felt heavy.

“Would you wish to test that?” she asked softly.

“That is enough,” the Grand Supreme said sharply. Beatrix felt Madeline’s hand on her wrist. She closed her eyes, and graced Magda with another smile. This one was very sharp. She sat.

“Your claims are baseless. The health of this Well is without question, especially given her age, and the influx she received shortly after her majority.”

“Yes, but the town, it-”

“I do believe I said enough Magda,” the Grand Supreme said. Magda stood firm. Then she wilted, and retook her seat. The Grand Supreme stared her down a few moments more before returning her attention to Beatrix. “Her last criticism is not without basis, but you’re work thus far has been without reproach. Please take a more active role in the lives of your citizens,” the old woman said gently.

“Yes, Grand Supreme,” she said. Before the meeting, she would have bristled at the suggestion, but she remembered her unhelpful answers to many of the questions about the state of the town. She believed it to be the mayor’s job, truthfully, but a nudge in the right direction might not be such a bad thing.

There were a few other small matters, such as the request of transferring an apprentice from one ward to another (her parents were moving, the motion passed), the request for more apprentices (passed), and the request for more funds for a ward (denied). It was getting late in the afternoon by the time the Grand Supreme rose to her feet, and held up her hands.

“I think we’ve covered the major points. I will be staying the night at Lady Magda’s ward, as she so generously offered me her hospitality, and if anyone has questions they may seek me out,” she said.

“You should have offered her stay in yours,” Madeline whispered. She used the admonishing tone Beatrix could remember her mother using.

“I think I have poked the bear enough in one day,” Beatrix replied in the same quiet way. Magda was fuming in her seat. “Besides, we both know she would have asked as soon as she heard the meeting would be held here.”

“I would like to remind everyone that the Royal Family will be returning to Beatrix’s ward for the following school year in an attempt to get the ambassador caught up in their schooling. As Her Majesty the Queen Toriel is a dear friend of mine, and His Majesty the King Asgore has gifted me a number of fine teas, I expect nothing but the utmost respect directed to them both.” There were murmured agreements, and she nodded, satisfied. “You are all dismissed.”

“My cucumbers came in again last week, if you want some,” Beatrix offered, rising. Madeline opened her mouth to reply.

“Madeline, if you’d remain, I’d have a word,” the Grand Supreme called. They both glanced at her.

“Perhaps later,” Madeline said with a smile. Beatrix sighed and waved her off. She glanced at the Royal Family, making their way down from the dias. They were waiting patiently for the witches and wizards to get out of their way. The child had not left the Queen’s arms the entire time. They seemed to be sleeping.

Not wanting to seem like she was lingering, Beatrix made her way to the exit.

“Fun?” Frank asked.

“Terribly so. And I do believe you owe me some of your honey now,” she said. He cursed softly.

“She asked again, didn’t she?”

“Of course. You should know by now I never make bets that I think I will lose.”

“Never should have agreed to it,” he grumbled. The big dog sitting besides him on the bench outside the doors whined. “Ah, few years ago she bet me a jar of my bees’ honeys that one of the supremes in there would demand for her ward. Bet me until there is a meeting where the lady  _ doesn’t  _ ask for a jar of honey. Stupid me took the bet. Fox eyed little brat taken so much of my honey. You’re worse than the badgers,” he said when she laughed at him. It only increased her mirth.

“Oh don’t treat it like a bad thing. I do bring you treats do I not?”

“Yeah yeah, but you coat it with my honey. I am thinking it is to rub it in.”

“Perhaps just a little,” she said, and then noticed how the dog went stock still. A second later it jumped to its feet, and gave a hasty bow. The Royal family, flanked by their tall guards, had finally made their escape into the long shadowed afternoon.

“I constantly forget how tall monsters are,” Frank said in awe. He had stood up too. She nodded a little besides him.

Despite the stature of the guards, the King and Queen were taller even than them, though not by all that much. The horns helped. They both moved with regal grace befitting royalty. Their guards’ armor shone in the sinking sunlight. There was a third guard, if that was what they were, trailing behind them. They wore a blue hoodie with the fur lined hood up, what looked like sweatpants that fell to the ground, and, of all things, bright pink bunny slippers. They were the shortest of the bunch, but cleared Frank a bit. Frank was a head taller than herself.

“Suppose I should introduce myself...again,” she muttered. Already the Royalty were being swarmed by waiting witches and wizards, eager to get in while the getting was still good. “Considering they are staying in my ward.” She had met them, very briefly, when they had emerged. But the Well had been in turmoil then, and she had not been able to leave it for any amount of time.

“Suppose you should,” Frank agreed. It still took a minute before she made her move.

No good deed goes unpunished, and the second she approached the Queen’s right side there was a flare of magic, and a bright blue spear in her face. “Halt!” Beatrix’s hands were up instantly in a don’t-shoot gesture.

“Woah there.”

“Undyne, that is enough. Sheathe it,” the queen said sharply. A bright yellow eye blinked at Beatrix, the pupil a sharp line. After a beat they sheathed their magical spear, and stepped back. “Apologies,” the Queen said. Up close now Beatrix could see the uneasy edge of all of the monsters’ shoulders, and the clench of most of their fists.

“No, my apologies. I’ve never spoken with Royalty before. I believe I made a social faux pas,” she said. There was a mutter from the hooded figure, something that sounded like ‘paws’, and the third guard groaned loudly.

“Boys,” the King warned.

“In an effort to remedy this situation, let me attempt my introduction again,” Beatrix said once she bottled her curiosity about what had transpired with the other two. “And, in an effort to prevent another misunderstanding, state my intentions. I will greet you as if you were my own Grand Supreme,” she said. She took a small step back to give herself room, as the group had drawn closer to her in the exchange. She put a hand to her chest, and the other behind her back. She gave a small inclination.

“I have seen others greet Deidre-er, that is, the Grand Supreme, in such a way, and thank you for the honor,” the Queen said graciously. Beatrix gave her politest smile.

“The honor is mine, Your Majesties, as I am the Warden of this side of Ebott. I wished to be at least acquainted with you. Beatrix, Daughter of the line of Barthe.”

“A pleasure,” the Queen said, even as the King gave the hooded monster a stern look when they took a sharp breath.

“I do not wish to take up much of your time, especially since the Ambassador seems to need their rest, but please consider me at your disposal should you need anything,” she said, and gave another bow worthy of the Grand Supreme.

“A generous offer, which I would be thrilled to take you up on. I am curious to see one of these Wells everyone is speaking of.” There was a tittering from some of the people around them. Beatrix had forgotten them for a moment, so focused she was. Her smile became even more serene at the idea of the Hemlock Covenant thinking they would have gossip to bring to their high and mighty supreme. She didn’t let anyone near her Well, almost as a rule.

“It would be my pleasure to give you a tour, Your Majesty. It has been years since I’ve had someone of such status and importance visit the heart of my duties,” she said, knowing full well she had had to entertain a horrible dinner with Magda just a month past. That efficiently shut the bystanders up. The Queen glanced between her and the crowd, and Beatrix had a moment of insecurity. Surely the Royals would not appreciate being the handle to her dagger tongue. But it was said already, and trying to take it back would not mend the situation. More gently, she added, “If I might be so bold to make a suggestion, I would encourage you to accompany on my night rounds to see the Well.”

“Any particular reason?”

“That would rather spoil the surprise,” she said, and the smile she gave was a true one. The tall goat woman smiled, and didn’t that just ease everything around them.

“I will certainly take your words into consideration Lady Beatrix.”

“Just Beatrix, Your Majesty. I’m an agent of no covenant, thus cannot claim that title.”

“A shame, as it seems as fitting for you as many of the others I have already met,” the Queen said without a hitch, leaving Beatrix just a tad stunned. The amused glimmer in her eyes only encouraged Beatrix’s smile. Ah, so that was what this woman was. The onlookers were tittering again.

“I will take my leave now, if permitted, Your Majesty.”

“Granted, and good evening Beatrix.”

“And to you and yours, Your Majesty,” she replied, and bowed her way away from the conversation. She could feel the others watch her pass as she returned to Frank’s side. “I would prefer that honey before the Queen visits me, if you don’t mind.”

“So long as you let them know it's from me.”

“Of course,” she replied, and watched as the little ambassador roused enough to get grumpy. The group was more easily able to escape conversation thanks to it, and were soon out of a sea of humans. “That was okay, right?” Beatrix asked suddenly. Frank put a hand on her shoulder.

“‘Course it was kid. You always do great.”

“Sure,” she replied, and watched as the family got into a red convertible. Well, aside from the strange hooded one, that got on a motorcycle.


	3. Chapter 3

Beatrix had two rounds she did daily no matter what rain or shine. There was the morning one, where she rose with the sun and the birds. She would tend to the Well as needed, and then return to her house to nap until about noon. Then she would do the daily chores needed in her house, prepare her meals for the day, water her garden, etc. She would do the second round towards the end of the day on the cusp of night.

She did not give herself the luxury of a noon nap today. She gave herself till ten only, and then got properly dressed. It was promising to be another scorcher of a day, so she wore a crop top, and shorts. She also tossed in a necklace that held a small charm to help keep her cool. Had she been remaining on her property she would probably have spent the day in less, but her duties were taking her elsewhere today.

Her scooter started, albeit unhappily. Usually she only took it out from the collapsable garage when she needed to get groceries, or to get to one of the witches’ meetings. Despite the scooter’s misgivings they both made it to her destination easily enough.

She had not visited the monster’s side of town since its initial grand opening where she had to approve of the buildings. She saw, with stark clarity, what a mistake that had been.

Beatrix felt her fury, let it burn bright in her chest for an appropriate amount of time, and then dumped cold water of reasoning on it. Fury would get her nowhere. Pictures and notes, however- she carefully documented everything she decided was wrong with the area. Graffiti, broken windows, broken mailboxes, leaking fire hydrant, run down grocery store, pathetic playground, and defaced school all made it into her notes. Now and then she would need to throw more mental water on the mental coals of her anger. She did not remember signing off on a second school They already had the one why did they need two? The only place that wasn’t decrepit was the Royal Family Home, and even then it would have been considered of average quality on the other side of town, if not a bit small.

She could blame the influx to the Well for her distraction on the upkeep of the monster’s neighborhood, and it would be true for the first half a year since her burden had increased. But when things had settled she should have- she of all people should know how normal people-

Beatrix closed her eyes, took a slow breath, and applied more water. When she opened her eyes again an armless little monster with a striped shirt was running in front of what appeared to be their parents, and kicking a soccer ball ahead of them excitedly. They tripped, fell, and got back up. Their excitement did not diminish despite the dead grass, and litter on the field.

Beatrix’s fingers tapped on the handlebars of her scooter. She would need to come back here later.

The scooter grumbled again when she kicked it back into action after putting her notebook into the saddlebag, and pointed it towards the town hall once more.

“Twice in as many days, you feeling okay?” Frank asked as she ascended the steps.

“How long has it been like that?” she asked.

“Since you became Warden, why?” She stared at him, shocked and sick. He blinked a few times. “What are we talking about? I feel like it doesn’t have to do with your hermit habits.”

She turned to the guard dog, who was busy watching a smug looking cat sitting on their trash cans. “How long has it been like that?” she demanded. He whined and looked at her. He cocked his head.

“Beatrix?” Frank asked when she let out a shuddering breath. Water, water, water. She couldn’t keep just, just letting herself  _ feel  _ like this. It wasn’t good.

“The monsters’ side of town,” she clarified, calmly. She was calm.

“Oh,” Frank said. He sighed, and tapped his pen. “Yeah… a while.”

“Okay,” she said, softly. Then she shook herself. More firmly, “okay.”

“Okay?” Frank jumped when she started by.

“I am seeing the Mayor, he is in yes?”

“Y-yeah, but-”

“Thank you Frank, and-uh- Good Boy,” she said when the Dog Guard half followed her. But his tail wagged at that.

The coolness of the town hall air conditioning hit her, and helped her mental job of cooling her own anger. She headed up the stairs. The Mayor’s offices were on the top floor. The receptionist, who looked like every receptionist in every movie ever, looked up upon her entrance. The woman immediately started to sweat.

“You can’t go in there right now,” she squeaked when Beatrix went, immediately, towards the Mayor’s office. She paused with her hand on the knob.

“Oh?”

“He is in a meeting with a member of the press covering the travels of the Royal Family. He said he wouldn’t be taking anyone,” the receptionist, who had relaxed when Beatrix had stopped, said. Beatrix gave her a smile. It had an edge. She opened the door.

“Ted,” she said in way of greeting, and completely ignored the surprised looking reporter. The color drained from the elderly mayor’s face.

“W-Warden Beatrix! What a uh, unexpected-”

“I would like to see the documents about the monster housing,” she said. Her smile had not left her face. It had not gotten duller. The reporter was writing furiously while simultaneously trying to make it seem like he wasn’t moving. Ted, that was, Mayor Theodore, did not moved. They had barely seen each other in the past three years.

She looked around the office. There were several diversity awards on the wall, and a neat looking pile of money near the reporter’s arm. She followed it until she was staring the man in the eye. It felt like she had a knife on her face, instead of a mouth.

“The documents- yes, the documents. Linda, Linda could you get the housing documents for the Warden? Linda will get you the documents, Warden, if you would just take a seat out-”

“I will,” she said, and sat in the free chair in his office. Both men were thrown off. The Mayor had very obviously be gesturing back out into the waiting room. “King and Queen Hoepfull, back in town, big deal,” she said. Her face was a portrait of seriousness underneath the knife. The two men looked at each other.

Linda came in with a file. “Thank you Linda,” Beatrix said. The woman stood there, wringing her hands. Beatrix looked expectantly at Ted.

“Thank you, Linda,” he choked. His face was regaining color, and it was going red all the way up to his receding hairline.

“Thank you,” the reporter added despite the fact she had not look at him. He sounded equally strangled.

“Linda, I think the front guards haven’t gotten lunch yet. Might want to go see what they, that is, the both of them, would like,” Beatrix said easily. She didn’t look at the other woman. She hadn’t look much elsewhere other than at Ted.

“An excellent idea,” Linda agreed, and beat a hasty escape.

“She lives on Mountain Rd, doesn’t she?” Beatrix asked, flipping open the folder. She was, of course, referring to the dividing line between the human and monster sides of town. Ted made a noise. It could have been a yes. It didn’t matter. “That won you a lot of votes last time, making it well known you’d have a government official rubbing elbows with our new neighbors. How  _ has  _ that been going?”

“Well,” Ted whispered. He truly looked like he was going to pass out. His eyes flicked to the reporter. “Perhaps we should reschedule-”

“No that’s-”

“Stay, wouldn’t want to throw off anyone’s schedule,” Beatrix said and the knife was back on her face. The reporter, who had been about to argue with the mayor, looked like he just put something rather sour in his mouth at the thought Beatrix wanted him there.

“That’s alright, I can-” he half rose, but she looked at him. Slowly, very slowly, he sat back down.

Beatrix flipped through the folder. Her input was important in any major changes in town because it affected the flow of magic in the area. She remember signing the agreement to deforest a certain amount of land to make room for housing for the monsters. She had agreed to a number of family houses, two modest apartment complexes, a few bus stops, and a community center for the monsters. She did not remember seeing a bus stop on her tour, and she certainly did not see her signature next to the mayor’s on the permit for the community center to be turned into a school.

The only sound was the gentle churning of air from the AC, and the sweat rolling down the two men’s faces. Linda could be heard, faintly, talking on the phone. Finally Beatrix shut the folder, and leaned back in her seat. She was no longer smiling. She was wondering if Ted had pissed himself.

“What do you want?” he asked when she didn’t say anything. She debated congratulating him for holding out for a whole of three minutes. She didn’t.

“Fix it,” she said, and pulled her list out. She slammed it onto the desk. He paled even further at the extensivity of it while she tapped on her phone to email him the pictures she had taken as well.

“Where will we get the money to-” Her look silenced him. Her eyes flicked to the pile on the desk. “T-that, ah-”

She smiled, again. It did not reach her eyes. It did not feel like a smile. “Or I could fix it, but lord knows how busy I am keeping the Well in check. No matter, sacrifices must be made. I will take matters into my own hands.” She picked up the paper.

“No!” he yelped, and caught up to her just as she got in front of Linda’s desk. The horrified looking woman could do nothing but watch as her grown boss fell to his knees at Beatrix’s feet. “Please, do not neglect the Well!”

“Perhaps it won’t be neglected,” she said, and he looked up at her, hope shining in his eyes. “I seem capable of multitasking. I am sure I can manage both. I mean, almost sure,” she said, and lifted her shoulders in a lazy manner. He whined at her feet, and grabbed her hands.

The look she gave him dropped the temperature of the room by a few degrees.

“What can I do to fix this?” he asked, voice high and reedy.

“Would you like to know?” she asked, kindly.

“Yes.”

“You would really, really, like to know?”

“Yes, more than anything, please,” he whispered, seemingly on the verge of tears.

She smiled at him. A real one. Sugar spun on snow, ice on the wound. She put her hands on his shoulders and straightened out his rumpled coat. He relaxed a little, smiled blissfully, looked at her like she was the salt of the earth.

He wheezed when she twisted his tie in her hand and bared her-- smiled at him again. “You have two weeks. If it ever progresses this far again, well,” she laughed, it was not a light sound. “And do something about this random school that popped up. We do already have the one, you know.” She released him, and he crumpled, choking, on the ground. She curled her lip at him, and then looked at Linda, who flinched. “Walk with me.”

“Y-yes Warden,” she squeaked, and fluttered nervously after Beatrix as she headed down the stairs. She was pleased to see the two guards had gotten a proper lunch. Both looked at her with something like awe as she came out until they saw the frightened way the receptionist was following her. Beatrix waved them goodbye.

“Calm down,” Beatrix said, gently, and took the woman by the elbow. The words had not been just for the other lady. They made their way towards Beatrix’s scooter. “You live on Mountain Rd, right?”

“Yes, Warden,” the woman whispered. Beatrix let go of her elbow, and slung her leg over the seat of her scooter.

“And you have a child, right? A, hmm, son?”

“Daughter.”

“Which school does she go to?”

“The human-” the receptionist cut herself off immediately, eyes wide and panicked. Beatrix hummed gently. She did not smile at her.

“You did move to that house to get the Mayor votes, am I right?”

“Yes.”

“How much of a raise did he offer you?”

“A lot, enough to put my girl through college, enough to support me after my divorce.”

“Your kid, she play with your neighbors?”

“No, well… she used to. But then,” she bit her lip and shuffled nervously. Beatrix did not relent. “Some of the local teenagers took to throwing eggs, and I was scared- I don’t let her- She is just a kid, she-”

“Shh now, it’s alright,” Beatrix said, and rubbed the woman’s arm. She seemed close to tears, but not because of Beatrix.

“She cried every night after I told he she couldn’t, and then again when I said she couldn’t go to the monster school, but I couldn’t just let- I had to protect- Please.”

“Linda,” Beatrix said, gently. Linda blinked rapidly. Beatrix waited until she collected herself. “Linda, I am sorry I scared you. What happened with your daughter isn’t your fault, and you aren’t wrong for wanting to protect her. She is a child. But they have children too. I am going to see this fixed.”

Linda looked at her. It was something like the way the Mayor had, but more cautious. She was still scared, but it wasn’t just directed at Beatrix now. “I… I believe you.”

Beatrix laughed softly, and looked ahead. That was nice to know. Finally she turned back to Linda. “I can’t do it alone.”

She did not ask for Linda’s help. Linda would not say no, not the the Warden of the Well. Linda had to offer it. “What can I do?” Linda finally said. She was brave. Beatrix had just reduced two grown men to near tears, had effectively thrown the long standing unquestioned power of the town on its ass, without using a scrap of magic. But here this receptionist, this mother was stealing her spine, and meeting Beatrix in the eye. It made Beatrix smile. Not a knife in disguise, but a legitimate human expression of happiness.

“Keep your eyes and ears open. Call me,” Beatrix said, and wrote her number on her notepad. She handed the paper open. “You hear anything, I mean it Linda, anything. You see anything. You tell me. No matter how small, how petty seeming, anywhere in town..  _ Anywhere _ ,” she said, nodding with significance towards the town hall, “you let me know. Anytime, day or night. You are in a special place Linda. Not just in the mayor’s office.”

Linda clutched the paper to her chest like a lifeline. She blinked again, rapidly, but her brow was set in a way Beatrix had never seen Ted’s. After a few shaky breaths that evened out into less shaky ones she nodded. “Anything, anytime,” she promised. Beatrix smiled.

“Ask Frank for some of his honey Linda. Goes great with most stuff. Have a good day,” she said, and, just for a second, sounded like a normal person. And, just for a second, Linda the normal person smiled at her.

With a choking cough the scooter started, and Beatrix drove away.


	4. Chapter 4

Beatrix had given Ted two weeks. She checked in after two days.

She was pleasantly surprised to find him on site, overseeing workers as they moved around fixing things up. Gardeners were planting flowers, construction men and women were fixing the playground, broken windows, and mailboxes. Linda was not present, but she supposed someone needed to hold the fort down at the town hall. Frank was trailing after the Mayor as his bodyguard.

A mixed group of children were watching some construction men put in a bus stop. They were entrapped by the jackhammer.

“Ted,” she said in way of greeting, having coasted her scooter to just behind him to the side. He went ramrod straight, and turned stiffly.

“Warden! How… pleasant, to see you so soon! As you can see everything is progressing normally and-”

“Yes, good to see you on the job,” she said with her sharp smile. His own twitched, but he swallowed his words.

“Nice to see you, Bea,” Frank said.

“And you,” she replied with a more genuine smile. He even seemed nervous. “Haven’t started on the paint yet,” she commented, eyes sliding lazily over the graffiti on most everything. Ted visibly shivered.

“With all the moving around wet paint was decided-”

“Understandable,” she interrupted, “though unfortunate.” Most of the words were not kind ones. Their group was attracting attention now. She would be surprised if more than a handful of people recognized her. She had not had the traditional recognition ceremony that most witches had, and all Wardens insisted on. They had planned it, but the emergence of a new society had put a bend in those plans. So the majority of the town knew her face, if vaguely, but they did not  _ know  _ her.

It was time to remedy that.

“To what do we owe the p-pleasure?” Ted asked as she dismounted from her scooter. Frank lifted a hand to make sure she stayed steady as she put the kickstand down. Beatrix reached for the saddlebags.

“Thought I’d help speed things along a bit. Well is stable today,” she said, and pulled out a glass jar. Inside a wisp of magic swirled in a lazy way. It shown green. The Mayor recoiled while Frank’s eyes widened.

“I-is that m-m-m-m-”

“Magic,” Frank exhaled. She smiled, and held the jar with lazy confidence.

“Excuse me, gentlemen,” she hummed, and stepped past them. She made her way towards the dead field. Everyone's eyes were on her now. They flicked between her, and the glowing jar she swung about casually.

The gardeners she passed were quick to scramble back and out of her way. She stepped in the center of the field. The magic was getting excited in her jar, and was swirling so fast now the glass was vibrating.

This jar was one of many she had. When not on her property, away from the Well, it could be difficult to pull upon magic for large spells. Any she caught might not be the kind she needed. Even when on her property, in the span of the Well’s influence, she preferred the jars. It gave her another step of distance from directly calling upon the Well. It wasn’t safe to pull that kind of energy from the source.

But this magic was safe and lively. She had picked it specifically for this job after having got a feel of her reserves. She turned to face the gathered crowd of both humans and monsters.

She smiled. It was not at all like a knife.

Beatrix popped the seal on the cover. The first, tentative tendrils of the spring green magic came poking out. They found her hand waiting, and clung on. She lifted the ball from the jar, and dropped the glass with a dull thunk. She cradled the magic in her hands, gentle and warm, and pulsing with life.

Beatrix focused her will onto it, urging it to do as she bid. It was in agreement with her will, and so the spell was an easy one. Easy as breathing which she did. She inhaled, and blew on it like one would to embers they were hoping to make a flame. Gentle, steady, the giving of air.

The magic started to spread in ribbons around the field. It hummed as it went, and sang a song half formed and quarter heard by everyone but her. A song of birds and rain and wind and sun. She had closed her eyes, and had dropped her hands. The ends of the ribbons were still connected to her, still being directed by her. Grow and green and seed and plant and sun and light and water and dirt and-

Beatrix opened her eyes again. Her hands let the magic go. The rest of the ribbons had settled already, and before her was no longer a dead barren field. There was lush grass and wildflowers. Trash had been moved into easy to collect piles. She smiled. It was nothing like a knife.

There was a mixed reaction from the crowd. The majority of kids started cheering, and then poured onto the revived field. It made her chuckle, and she scooped the jar off the ground. There was a mix of awe, fear, relief, and hostility in the faces of the adults. Some dispersed as she returned to the group--more specifically returned to her scooter.

“THAT WAS SO COOL! FRISK, DID YOU SEE?” a skeleton shouted. He was taller than the majority of the crowd (aside from a few monsters) and had a child on his shoulders. After a moment Beatrix realized it was the child Ambassador, who was looking delighted. The skeleton had the same scarf as one of the guards yesterday so she made the logical assumption on his presence. The Mayor, who was next to her, jumped, and swore under his breath. “YOU HUMAN, YOU DID THIS THING?”

“I did,” Beatrix said, and chuckled at the stars that appeared in the monster’s eyes. He swept the child from his shoulders and set them, exceptionally carefully, on the ground.

“I am glad,” he said, dropping the volume considerably, “for that field was rather depressing before. The Queen will be delighted to know there is a place for Frisk to play and, as Her Majesty’s Royal Guard, I the GREAT PAPYRUS, will be sure to inform her!”

“You are a royal guard?” Ted asked in surprise. Beatrix was curious too, but would have worded it differently. He didn’t seem to have the… disposition. The tall skeleton looked over at the Mayor and, in an exaggerated gesture, down at him.

“I am! I was chosen for my skill in both battle and the kitchen! Not to mention that I am the bestest of friends with Ambassador Frisk,” he said, proudly. His eyes sought out his charge to find them in a signed conversation with the armless monster child Beatrix had seen before. Judging them in no immediate danger he returned his attention to the humans. “Lady Beatrix!”

“It is just Bea-”

“Her Majesty the Queen has expressed an interest in taking you up on your offer of service, and touring your Well! However, in our haste to situate ourselves back in the Royal Home, we neglected to get your contact information. I would like to remedy this situation. Though we are incredibly busy returning the Royal Home to its former glory,” a sharp look at the Mayor, who swallowed hard, “we hope to schedule a visit in the next couple of days! Here, I present to you my cell,” he said, and pulled said cellphone from his pocket. She took it.

His background was of him and Frisk eating spaghetti. Both of them had it all over themselves. Beatrix smiled, and navigated her way to his contacts. “I will be under Beatrix Barthe,” she said as she keyed in her number. She felt something pulling at her shirt, and looked down. The Ambassador was looking up at her. “Hello.”

“They say hello, and would like to see your container!” Papyrus translated their hand motions. Beatrix nodded and handed it over. The little human turned it over in their hands, frowning at it. They signed. “Where is the magic? How did it hold it? I too was wondering that!”

“The magic is in the field now. And the glass is special. Months of rituals and tempering gave it the ability to hold magic,” Beatrix explained, and took it back when they offered it up.

“Why would you want to hold magic?” the armless monster kid asked.

“A number of reasons: ease of access mostly. Having a jar of it on my person means I will always the fuel for a spell at the ready.”

“ain’t that bad for it?” came a new voice. It was deep, and rich. She turned to face the newcomer. It was the hooded monster from before. They were dressed the same, though now she saw the scarf they had over their face as well. She couldn’t see anything about them but a pinprick of light from where she assumed an eye was. “keepin ‘ it trapped like that. seems a bit wrong to me, cruel.”

“For some, yes. It was tainted before. Separation from the stream is an important part to purify it, and make sure the Well doesn’t get tainted. If not treated correctly, it can be cruel, but I was taught well. It is released when the time comes: either to join the Well, or act as an agent of change as it was today.”

The figure grunted. She frowned a little, and squinted in an attempt to make out their appearance. Frisk pulled on her shirt again, and she gave them her attention.

“He doesn’t like- Oh, Frisk, that isn’t nice to say. Plus that is his business,” Papyrus chided.

“yeah kid don’t go around telling… fibulas.”

“UUUURGH.” Despite herself Beatrix snorted at the sudden outburst of the tall skeleton. “IF YOU ARE GOING TO BE LIKE THAT YOU ARE NO LONGER INVITED TO THE PLAY DATE!”

Frisk was still looking uncomfortably at the hooded man, but Papyrus swept them back up in his arms. “Do you want to play soccer with us?” the little monster kid asked. “It is a human game that you only use your FEET for!”

Frisk nodded happily as the three made their way from them.

Beatrix smiled a little, and threw her leg over her scooter. She gave the hooded figure another look. “I have no intentions of harm,” she said, quietly. He snorted again.

“don’t go tryin’ to make friends now, kid. bit late for that doncha think?” he asked, and turned pointedly towards a wall that had one of the ruder bits of vandalism on it. “bit late to be tryin’ to fix things.”

“Better late than never,” she replied, eyes narrowed at the words. Her fingers twitched on the handlebars. She closed her eyes, and made an effort to relax. She had only brought the one jar. Stupid. She should have brought more. “I best be getting back the Well,” she said when no one added anything. She looked over to see that the Mayor was still there. “Do keep me in the loop Ted.”

“Of course Warden,” he replied tersely. She gave him her sharpest smile, which he flinched at.

“Oh! Beatrix, swing by the town hall on your way back. Lesser Dog has got your honey.”

“Lesser Dog?”

“The guard dog.”

“Frank, this entire time I thought his name was Guard Dog, why didn’t you correct me! It says that on his name tag!” She put a hand to her face. “I’ve been calling him good boy. Oh geez what if that is an insult?”

“Sorry kid,” he said with a laugh. She shook her head in exasperation. She spared a glance for the mystery monster in the hood, but his attention was on that of the Royal guard and Ambassador.

With mild protest from yet another day of having to work, the scooter started up and she departed. She was pleased to see everyone turned to watch her go.

Lesser Dog, who she greeted by the correct name this time, did indeed have her honey. She gave him his sought after pat, and went up to see Linda.

“How are things? Honey?” she asked, noticing the woman’s tea on the desk.

“Please,” she said. Beatrix gave her a generous drop. “Frank’s. He is good with his bees.”

“I will ask him about them, promise,” Linda said politely. Beatrix noticed her tense smile, and gave her a gentle one of her own. She didn’t sit.

“Just checking in. Everything well?”

“He has been making some frantic calls, but from what I could tell it was to get the contractors in and such.”

“They a good bunch?”

“Not the best, but well enough. Mid quality. He is worried about depleting taxpayer money, and had to deal with some grumblings already from the general populace. He is worried about elections.” Beatrix snorted. He would not be getting her support as he had in the past. “However, he hasn’t done anything questionable.”

“How was that reporter?”

“Rattled, but looked pleased when you left. I think the article will not be as flattering as the Mayor thinks it will be.”

“You can call him Ted.”

“He hates that,” she said.

Beatrix smiled. “Oh, I know.” This caused Linda to laugh. “How is your daughter?”

“Good. She is with my sister over on Daisy Lane.”

“Other side of town. How early do you have to get up to get her there?”

“Pretty early.”

“Your sister have kids?”

“No, but she and her husband are thinking about it.”

Beatrix hummed a little. “I am sure that the human Ambassador Frisk would like some more kids their age to play with. I just met their guard, Papyrus. He is good with kids.”

“You aren’t suggesting-”

“Oh no no, though I am sure that on a weekend or something, if they were out and about, they wouldn’t have an issue with you joining them.”

Linda was chewing her lip. “I suppose.”

“I’m making you uncomfortable.”

“I just… worry. Not about the monsters, but about the people. Well, that is a lie. A little about the monster considering how they’ve been treated. But human people, they can be… I am sure you know how people can be to each other.”

Beatrix hummed and looked away. She did.

“Just something to think about. Enjoy your tea Linda,” she said.

“I will, have a good day Warden!” Beatrix gave her a lazy wave as she headed back out. She spent a bit of time with Lesser Dog, petting him until he seemed unable to take anymore.

“You got a good place to sleep at night?” she asked distractedly during the petting session. He whined, and pushed more insistently at her hand. She chuckled and gave his chin a firm scratching. She wondered if anyone could understand him. Maybe. She hoped he had an okay place to settle down at night. “Gotta get going bud. See you around,” she laughed when he licked her, and gave him one more vigorous scratching.

She got onto her scooter. She couldn’t fix everything in a day. That wasn’t the type of magic that existed in the world.


	5. Chapter 5

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Hope everyone (that it applies to) had a great fourth!

The Queen took her up on her offer a week or so later. It was a nice clear Saturday night. Furthermore, their area in town seems to be well underway in becoming what it was supposed to. Beatrix’s daily visits seemed to be helping it along. She brought magic, sometimes. She worried about what wild magic might do to the monsters though so she didn’t release too much too quickly.

“Welcome to the humble Barthe abode,” Beatrix said with a flourishing bow that made the Queen laugh lightly. The laughter grew to her, the Ambassador, and Papyrus when one of Beatrix’s chickens decided to jump onto Beatrix’s back. The other guard, Undyne or whatever, was not present. The hooded one was. The dusk light made the pinprick of light hidden in the depths of his hood even more pronounced.

Beatrix returned the chicken to the ground, and shooed it along. She then passed out a flashlight to Papyrus, and the Queen. She had a feeling the hooded guy wouldn’t take one.

“I have to ride this. I’m sorry I don’t have something that could pull you guys. The Ambassador can fit in the wagon if they promise not to go through anything,” Beatrix said as she approached her ATV that was in MUCH better shape than her scooter. Which made sense considering it had magic infused into it. Her equipment was in the wagon attached to the back of it.

“Would you?” the Queen asked. When the Ambassador nodded she lifted them and placed them in the back amongst the padded bags containing jars.

“So it is really important that everyone listens, and obeys, anything I tell them to do,” Beatrix said, seriously. “I will toss aside formalities if I feel like someone is in danger which I do apologize in advance for.”

“is something gunna happen?” the hooded guy asked, and his eye(?) flashed dangerously in the dark.

“Sans,” the Queen said in a warning tone. Beatrix held up a hand.

“It’s fine. I am sure I don’t need to tell you all the dangers magic can posses. I admit, I am not even completely sure how wild magic would act around you. As such you won’t be allowed nearly as close as I would allow a human. Any questions?” When the group indicated no, Beatrix got on the vehicle. “Alright, I won’t go fast, and feel free to stop me if anyone feels weird, or has questions.” Beatrix waited another moment. Truth be told she was nervous. She had invited them because it seemed like the right, and polite, thing at the time. But even well tended Wells could be unpredictable. “I should also mention it is important not to take anything from the area,” she added.

While it was light enough to see in her front yard it got pretty dark fairly quickly under the trees. It was a ten or so minute ride to the Well going at their pace. It was possible to see stars through the breaks in the trees halfway there.

“What is that glow?” Papyrus asked as they drew closer. Beatrix smiled.

“That is the Well.” And it was.

The trees thinned to allow them a clear view into a clearing. There was a span of about thirty feet of blue-green grass, and strange, magic infused flowers, before the start of the Well. If not for the very obvious otherness to the place one could assume it was a lake with exceptionally clear water. Only the water, in this case, was raw, wildly occurring magic. The light it produced was bright, but not blinding. A strong glow that gently shifted between the cool color spectrum. There were brighter areas like stars. Now and then a tendril of magic would lazily roll out from the pool that, Beatrix knew from experience, seemed bottomless. The pool of magic also hummed with energy.

“Sounds like...” the Queen whispered, and took a few steps forward. Beatrix grabbed her arm which made her jump. Beatrix looked back at Papyrus, but he and the hooded guy, Sans or whatever, had their hands clasped together. They looked dazed, but in no danger of coming closer.

“No closer,” Beatrix said softly to the Queen. As they watched a moth fluttered closer towards the light. A tendril scooped up towards it. It stayed suspended in the magic for a moment before glowing, and disappearing.

“What happened?” Papyrus asked on a whisper. He had moved closer, but it had been a deliberate thing. He picked the Ambassador from the wagon, and put them on his shoulders. Sans had not moved any closer, and seemed rooted in his spot.

“It was absorbed. This magic is not malicious.”

“it killed it then,” Sans said.

“No. They are just one now. The moth might reemerge later. It might be changed just a bit, or it might be exactly the same. My line had several mages that fell to the Well’s song. Some of them emerged. Some did not.”

“I hear snowfall,” Papyrus said at his quietest yet.

“It is different for everyone,” Beatrix replied and her tone matched his in volume.

“why?” Sans asked after a moment of silence, and his voice was rough.

“No one is sure. My mother thought it was to connect with you. Her grandmother thought it was to chase off people. The song isn’t always pleasant.”

“Oh,” the Queen said. “Oh!” she said again when, at the opposite side of the Well a group of magically altered bucks stepped from the trees. They had glowing lights around their antlers like they were swarmed with fireflies.

“It is time for me to do my duty. Remain here please,” Beatrix said. She pulled out a crown of agrimony, cedar, lavender, and thyme from a saddle bag. She then gathered two large canvas bags from the wagon. She stepped towards the edge of the woods, and two steps beyond the last tree. Several feet before her were stakes set into the ground that had similar herbs and flowers as her crown, as well as burdock root and rue, growing around them.

Some magic raised to reach out towards her, but she waved it away. The group behind her couldn’t hear it, but the song for her increased in noise and desperation.

Beatrix kept one eye on the Well before her, and the other on the small herd of deer that were approaching. Their hides were speckled with glowing spots of magic as if they were still fawns. But the largest was as big as a moose. It was the largest that approached her first, and settled down onto its knees so she could reach its sprawling antlers. Some of them had leaves growing from them. It regarded her with its eyes that glowed, and shifted with the same color as whatever the Well currently was.

The lights trapped amongst the antlers were sparks of magic. Some were strong emotions people felt recently. Some was magic that had formed, and had not found its way here yet. Some was leftover magic from monsters performing magic. And some was from things that had died, and released the spark that kept them alive back into the world.

Beatrix began to hum to the Well the song it was singing to her. She was telling it she heard, even if she was not going to come closer. It made the tendrils settle some, even though the whole Well was pushing itself up along its bank closest to her. It had eaten up another five feet from doing so.

Beatrix began to pluck the magic from the Well Seeker’s antlers. She held each ball of magic in her hand long enough to deem it safe to return to the stream or not. If it was she gently blew it from her hands back towards the pool. If it was not it was placed, even more gently, in one of the jars in the bags at her feet. Each released ball was gathered by a waiting tendril of magic.

When she finished that deer stood, and circled his herd. She did the same process to the next buck. When this one was finished it turned, and waded into the Well where it fused once more with the magic. This proceeded for the next eleven deer.

When all but the largest one were gone he returned to her, and bowed his head. She removed jars of already cleansed magic, and wove them into his antlers. He touched her brow with his soft nose when she was done, and then joined his brethren in the Well.

Beatrix gathered her things up, and returned to the group. Her eyes itched, and her hands were sore.

“Does it usually take this long?” the Queen asked when they were making their way back towards her yard. Beatrix stifled a yawn. She had checked her phone discreetly when she had gotten back on her vehicle. The whole process took an hour and a half. 

“Sometimes more sometimes less. This was pretty standard,” she said. After a bit more time of them traveling in near silence (not even the ATV with its magical engine broke the noise) she added. “I had to set up a tent out there when your barrier fell.”

“Oh?” the Queen asked. Beatrix nodded and rubbed her eyes again. “I’m sorry you had to do that. Did you not have any help?”

Beatrix shrugged. “I didn’t really with the magical portion. I had reached my majority by then so no one outside of my covenant was allowed to alter the Well. Which, I’m sure you know, I don’t have a covenant. I did have a few people help with the non-magical tasks I had to do like house sitting for me though. But it’s fine, it's what I was born to do.” Beatrix caught the Queen’s look. “It wasn’t that bad,” she added even though it really had been.

“Well, it explains why we did not get to properly get to know each other before,” she said at length. “It was very beautiful,” she added as they pulled up to Beatrix’s front yard.

“Yeah, it is,” Beatrix agreed. The Queen gathered up the Ambassador who had fallen asleep on the way back.

“What will you do with these now?” Papyrus asked. He and Sans had been silent on the walk back. Beatrix looked back at the jars that glowed predominantly red, but there were some icy blue and sickly green in there as well.

“I have to purify them. Draw out the negativity within them before they can be returned to the flow of the magic of the Well, or they could corrupt it. Which wouldn’t be very good,” Beatrix said with a huff of laughter. Wouldn’t be very good would be a huge understatement.

Papyrus seemed eager to ask more questions, but Beatrix yawned wide again.

“I think it best if we take our leave to allow you to rest now,” the Queen said.

“I don’t mean to be rude, Your Majesty,” Beatrix added while fighting back another yawn. The Queen laughed.

“I hardly consider it rude. You worked hard, and look exhausted. And please, Toriel is fine,” Toriel said. Beatrix smiled sleepily. “Goodnight Warden Beatrix.”

“Goodnight Your Majesty,” she said. “Toriel,” she amended at her look. “You too Papyrus… Sans.”

“Goodnight Warden Beatrix,” Papyrus said and bowed to her. She huffed another laugh. Sans didn’t say anything when he breezed on by them towards the road. Papyrus gave him a slightly sour look. “I do hope we can visit again. I would very much like to get to know your chickens. I know Frisk was interested as well.”

“I will have to set something up then,” Beatrix agreed, and waved them off. She collected the filled jars from her wagon before covering it with a tarp. She would need to put the jars in her basement workshop.

The magic in the jars flared brighter, for just a moment, and she felt a pop of magic. When she looked up her guests were gone from where she had last seen them.


	6. Chapter 6

“School starts next week right?” Beatrix asked while she attached a blue lace agate to an old pair of sunglasses with some hot glue. She pressed it carefully in the middle of a circle of zircon. “Ouch.”

“Frisk says yes, and wonders what you are doing there,” Papyrus translates as he had been the last couple of times she had run into the pair. They were over maybe two weeks after seeing the Well to get to know her chickens. They had had to put the visit off because the little Ambassador had been sick.

Beatrix pulled a ball of purple magic from a jar. She hummed it string thin, and wrapped it around the glasses and stones like she was using it to tie them into place. They glowed for a minute, and she returned the remained of the magic back to its jar. She closed it, and put her glasses on her face. She then looked at the two. “I want to be able to understand Frisk without you haven’t to translate. This will help me understand sign language, and learn it myself, faster.”

“Cool,” Frisk signed with one hand. The other was holding a chicken that was clucking happily.

“seems a bit like cheating,” Sans said. He was slumped down in one of her lawn chairs, and a chicken was perched on his head.

“I mean if you want to find someone to teach me sign language, pay for the lessons, and get me the time to practice be my guest,” Beatrix said with a cluck of her tongue. The chicken on his head, Dutchess, clucked in return. Frisk made a face at Sans.

“No need to be rude. Not everyone was born knowing it like us,” Papyrus agreed with a huff. “Sorry again we had to drag this lazy bag of bones with us. Toriel insisted in case Frisk ended up not feeling good again.”

“No trouble to me at all,” Beatrix replied. Sans made a grumpy noise, and slumped down further if it was even possible. She packed her stones back up in their store bought clear case, and unplugged her hot glue gun from the extension cord she had it in. She looked up when Frisk’s feet appeared before her.

“Can I see?” they asked, and then pointed at the jar with the magic. Beatrix clicked her nails on the stone case a couple of times before she shrugged.

“I suppose. Don’t open it though,” she said. Frisk deposited the chicken in their arms back on the ground, and sat next to Beatrix at her motion. Beatrix ensured the lid was on tightly, and then handed it to Frisk. The young person held it up to their eyes so close that their nose pressed to the glass. Papyrus also drew closer.

“What’s it doing?” he asked.

“Not sure,” Beatrix said. The magic inside was pressing itself up against the glass where Frisk’s hands were. “Maybe trying to figure out what is up or something.”

“Is it… sentient?”

“Kinda? There is a small amount of will in it. If allowed out of the jar it would go on to affect something around us.”

“something bad?” Sans asked. She hadn’t seen or heard him get up but there he was with his hands characteristically shoved into his pockets. He was angled towards Frisk and the jar.

“Good and bad are highly subjective so I can’t say yes or no. It certainly wouldn’t  _ mean  _ to do something either way, but it could,” Beatrix explained, and took the jar back from Frisk when they held it out.

“Is that why you have to watch what goes in the Well?” Frisk asked now that their hands were free.

“Yes. Right now what is in there is bound by generations of spells, and the impression of thousands of wills upon it to remain where it is. However it is a lot of magic that all have their own small amount of will, and, all together, is a huge amount of will. It can eat up any spell if it decided to. Well… deciding is a strong word for it. I don’t know how sentient the Well is. It’s dangerous to get to close to try to test that sort of thing. But, yes, if the wrong type of will from rogue magic were to enter the Well it could change the entire makeup of the rest of the magic present. It would leave its clearing, and come into contact with anything beyond.”

“Changing and absorbing it as it went,” Papyrus added when she went to take a breath. Beatrix nodded.

“Exactly.”

They all let that settle in for a bit.

“has it happened before?” Sans asked after a bit. He seemed to be staring at the jar with the gently swaying purple magic in it.

“Yeah.”

“What happened?” Frisk asked after pulling on her sleeve to get her attention.

“There are usually two outcomes. Mages swoop in and stop it, or contain it. If they can stop it the Well just moves locations, and usually ends up influencing the surrounding area. Farms grow a surplus of huge delicious produce, animals reproduce at an incredible rate, forests pop up, and societies flourish. People usually end up being more creative near them,” Beatrix said.

“and if they have to contain them?” Sans prompted when she didn’t continue.

Beatrix tapped her nails a couple of times on the stone case again. “Mages, usually with the Grand Supreme in the lead, have to bottle the magic up, and calm it until it can be released again. It can take decades. It causes deserts to form, and surrounding life to stagnant. The damage is sometimes impossible to fix because it is sometimes impossible to return magic to those areas. The damage done leaves an emotional scar that then messes with any magic that is attempted to be reintroduced,” Beatrix finally said. She picked up her jar with the magic swirling pleasantly within. “Well, at least impossible for mages to return magic to the area. Usually it starts coming back in its own ways, but the land is altered for centuries.”

Another span of silence passed. “Why don’t you have any help?” Frisk finally asked.

“A covenant?” Beatrix tried to clarify. Frisk shrugged. “There are rules in place to prevent other mages with messing with wells that are not under the protection of their covenant. It is because a well gets used to someone’s presence, and just throwing in new variables can mess with it.”

“pretty touchy,” Sans said with what sounded like a scoff.

“It is what it is. Covenants take those with magical ability, and starts getting a well used to them early on. They are tasked with forming the jars, doing a lot of simple spells at decreasing distance from a well, and cleansing magic to be returned to a well long before they are allowed to interact directly with it. In that order. All of it lets the well get used to the feel of the particular apprentice.”

Frisk digested this information for moment. “That doesn’t explain why  _ you  _ don’t have a covenant.”

“Ah,” Beatrix said, and looked away from them. She saw in her peripheral that Papyrus was watching, and Sans even turned his head towards her. “There is a pretty personal reason behind that,” she said eventually. “No biggie,” she added when Frisk looked stricken. “Just don’t want to bore you with it. Let’s just say I’m not welcome in the covenant close by, and it has influenced how others see me.”

“That’s dumb,” Frisk signed with a scrunched nose.

“Sure is kiddo,” Beatrix said, and stood. She brushed her shorts off with her hands, and then collected her items. “Anyone want to come in for some lemonade? Chickens stay out here though.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Blue lace agate is for communication, zircon is for promotion of wisdom. At least according to the like ten second google search I did.
> 
> I will have Frisk using sign language, but didn’t want to write Frisk signed, every time. I hope everyone is okay that I have them use said/asked/etc. The only difference with be if it is a tonal thing, and I will try to put that across with ‘they slowly signed, they signed wildly, the signed with this sort of face’ etc.


	7. Chapter 7

Summer was winding down, and it was getting cooler. Not cool, but cooler. School had started, and the monster’s side of town was more or less how it should be. Beatrix had urged Toriel to assign a monster guard to patrol with a human police officer at night to discourage any vandalism by local teens. Lesser Dog’s friend Greater Dog was given the position. Beatrix was sure to get his name immediately even though she had learned from Frisk that the various dog guards didn’t necessarily find cooing, and good dogging to be offensive so long as it wasn’t condescending. They all apparently had a lot of similarities to the more mundane man’s best friend.

Beatrix was working in her garden. She was in shorts, a big floppy hat, and a sports bra. It was warm enough that her work was making her really sweaty. She was picking some of the last of her summer crop, and preparing her garden for fall. She liked making really big pumpkins to put around town near Halloween.

She straightened up, and took her hat off her head to fan herself. She felt a sudden sharp and huge collecting of magic behind her. Instinctively she flexed her own hand, plucked a burning string of power from the surrounding air, and whipped around.

The gathering magic popped. It wasn’t a sound as much as it was a feeling; a gathering and sharp release of pressure she could feel in her chest and at the base of her skull.

“hey,” Sans said as he appeared out of nowhere. One minute not there, and a blink later in front of her. She swore at the suddenness of it, and barely managed to turn aside the magical blow she had sent his way. A gale sung from her outstretched hand, and cut a clear line of wind through the grass just passed him.

Beatrix clutched her now burnt hand to her chest, her heart hammering, and breathing hard.

“didn’t mean to breeze right in on your like this,” Sans said after a few tense moments.

“I’m sorry,” she said, and picked up her hat from where she had dropped it. “I didn’t realize what was happening. There was just a  _ lot  _ of magic behind me. You spooked me I guess.” He shrugged noncommittally even as Beatrix cringed on the inside. Despite the handful of times she had hung out with Toriel, Frisk, and/or Papyrus, Sans never really seemed to warm up to her. Granted she never really warmed up to him either, but, in her defense, it was hard to when he was basically a blank slate. He never dropped his hood, his voice was pretty monotone aside from when he was really laying a joke on thick, and he didn’t gesticulate either. If it wasn’t for the bright light in the dark of his hood she wouldn’t even be sure he wasn’t asleep or even just a mannequin most of the time. “So… uh… what’s up?”

“toriel was wondering if you could come over for tea.”

“When?”

“now,” he said. Beatrix blinked at him a few more times.

“Like.. now now?”

“ye.”

“Is it like an emergency?” Beatrix asked. He shrugged again. “Okay. Yeah, sure, let me just--” she gestured vaguely to herself and around. He didn’t seem inclined to acknowledge that, and instead watched the handful of chickens that were puttering around nearby to nab the insects she disturbed on her gardening warpath.

Beatrix put her tools away, and then gathered up what she had already picked. It wasn’t fun going with her magically scalded hand that she still kept close to her chest so she couldn’t jostle it. She saw Sans started to follow her when she went up the steps to her front door. She let him in first. He had allowed the screen door to bonk him before rather than hold it himself. She had seen it.

“There is some lemonade in the fridge if you want some,” she said, and dumped her produce on the table. “Would she like me to bring some of this?” she asked.

“dunno.”

Beatrix rolled her eyes, and went over to the kitchen sink. She pulled out a jar of softly glowing aloe vera, and some bandages.

“got a bad bit of magic there?” Sans asked. He was standing where he could watch what she was doing. She snorted.

“Not really. I pulled directly from the Well. As the Warden I can do that. It’s just… a lot. Especially when I don’t prepare to channel it.” Beatrix washed her hands to get the dirt off, hissing at the sting, and looked at the burn on her left hand. “Not that bad,” she said, more to herself than him. She drizzled some of the aloe on her hand, and spread it around. Then she wrapped it, loosely, in gauze. Immediately the stinging chilled, and numbed thanks to the magical first aid.

“Can you pick out a couple of cucumbers for me to bring? I don’t know who will be around so I need you to get as many as we need. I’m just going to get dressed,” she said, put the aloe and bandages away, and went to the laundry room. There she grabbed a sundress and bra that she had left to dry in her laundry room. Then she went to the downstairs bathroom where she grabbed a washcloth. She just used it to quickly wipe the worst of the sweat and grime off of her.

“All set,” she said once changed, and returned to him. She scooped the cucumbers he had picked into a reusable shopping bag that said ‘Beets me’ with a cartoon beet on it. She also added a jar of Frank’s honey.

“heh, nice bag.”

“Thanks. I don’t have an extra scooter helmet, but you can ride with me if you want.”

“nah, was told to give you a shortcut,” he said.

“A wha--” she was cut off but a sudden, huge gathering of magic, and him suddenly taking her upper arm. She just had time to notice his hand was skeletal before it suddenly went dark. She flexed her hand instinctively for magic even as the dark pressed on her eyes and ears like a physical thing. She felt like she was being squeezed through a tube. “--t?”

“here we are,” he said, dropped his hand, and stepped away from her all in one smooth motion. Beatrix wheezed as her diaphragm tried to remind itself how to work. Her eyes also teared up from the sudden brightness of the Royal Home. She stopped reaching for magic.

“So good to see you Beatrix!” Papyrus said, and slapped a hand on her back. She choked as it got her lungs back in motion.

“What the f--”

“Beatrix is here?” Toriel called from the kitchen, and poked her head out. “I'm in here dear,” she added, and looked between Sans and herself. His shoulders were shaking with barely suppressed mirth, and she was giving him a look that she knew couldn’t decide if it was mad, impressed, or still shocked. “You didn’t warn her did you.”

“works better when I don’t,” Sans said with another shrug. “welp,” he added, and went to flop face down on the couch in the living room they had appeared right next to. Papyrus sighed at his antics.

“Sorry I had to have Sans get you,” Toriel said even as Papyrus took the bag from Beatrix’s arm.

“What happened?” Papyrus had noticed the bandage on Beatrix’s hand.

“the story will blow you away Paps,” Sans called as they made their way towards the kitchen.

“Ah, just a little accident. It will be gone by tomorrow,” Beatrix said. “Is something wrong?” she asked Toriel when they got in the kitchen with her. It didn’t  _ feel  _ like an emergency. Sans hadn’t rushed her getting ready, and Papyrus seemed relaxed. “Frisk at school?”

“Yes they are. Finally feeling a little better,” Toriel said. “And there might not be anything wrong. I’m not… sure. I’m not really sure how this would all work. That other supreme, Magda I believe, is coming over for tea.”

“Magda is coming here?” Beatrix asked in apparent shock. Then she scowled.

“I am guessing she did not invite you. I was hoping otherwise,” Toriel said with a wry smile.

“No, she did not.”

“I also assume that is rather rude.”

“It is actually quite frowned upon for even an apprentice to enter another Ward without asking permission from the Warden let alone a Warden Supreme combo. It used to be illegal, but a lot of Wards are close enough that they ignored the rule.”

“Not in this case. I didn’t realize one could be a Warden without also being a Supreme.”

“No I don’t like her just dropping in. And yes, you don’t have to be one to be the other. Though it usually works out that way,” Beatrix said. “Did she say why?”

“Just for a social visit. She wanted to see how we were settling in. Oh, cucumbers and, delightful, some of Frank’s honey,” Toriel said when Papyrus handed the bag over. “I will make sandwiches to go along with the tea.” Toriel took them over to the sink, and started to wash them. She waved away Beatrix when she came to help. Papyrus started getting the other ingredients out for cucumber sandwiches. “I hope I didn’t interrupt anything important by having Sans get you, or that it was rude of me to do so.”

“Not at all. The only people I’m fine with coming without announcement are the Grand Supreme, and Madeline.”

“I had been warned by Deidre that there is… animosity between you and Magda.”

“That’s an understatement,” Beatrix grumbled, and then shook herself. “Are you alright with me being here? I’d hate for it to cause you any problems.”

“Not at all. I might be a Queen, but this is  _ your  _ kingdom dear. I am more worried about offending you than her. Even if that wasn’t the case you are my friend. She didn’t outright say she hadn’t invited you, but I thought I would cover my bases by having you here.”

“I can’t believe she just invited herself over,” Beatrix grumbled again despite the feeling of warmth she got from being considered Toriel’s friend.

“Well, not quite. She did invite me to her Ward, but anytime I suggested that was a weekend didn’t work for her. Eventually I just said we could meet here.”

“That was planned. She knew Frisk has school. Probably thought she could circumvent propriety by claiming the Royal House is your domain. Which might be true, but--”

“But still seems like an underhanded thing to do,” Papyrus said with a huff as he spread mayo on bread Toriel had baked herself.

Beatrix nodded in agreement, and tapped her fingers of her good hand against her own crossed arm. She considered her options. It was not the first time Magda had taken such liberties with her Ward. She had been too busy previously, or, when she was younger, too grateful for the help. She hadn’t known what the help would cost her.

“I’ll have to see what this is about. Then I might report her to the Grand Supreme.”

“Do you think you might not?” Papyrus asked, and accepted the cucumbers from Toriel to peel and cut.

“If it is just a simple brown nosing I would hate to bother the Grand Supreme. She is a busy lady.”

“It is also her job to solve things like this,” Toriel said, and pulled down her tea set to place on a serving tray along with the jar of honey. Beatrix hummed a little in vague agreement. It was also her own job to protect her Ward. She didn’t want to seem like she wasn’t able to do that. “Can you get the napkins?”

“Yeah,” Beatrix said, and collected the cloth napkins Toriel had gestured to. She followed her to the dining room where she was setting up.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I should start keeping notes on the weird stuff I google to verify things in fics. Like what are end of summer vegetables people grow. Learned pumpkin can be grown in summer too! But I think I've only seen it nearer to Halloween so farmers or gardeners please don't come drag me.


	8. Chapter 8

Beatrix was sitting at the table, and listening to a story Toriel was telling her when Magda arrived. The older woman stopped dead when she turned the corner to find her there. Her displeasure was quickly wiped from her blood red lips before she continued walking behind Papyrus.

“Beatrix,” she said in a tone that would have been warm and pleasant from anyone else.

“Magda,” Beatrix replied, and took a sip of her tea. Magda’s lip twitched just a bit at the absence of her honorifics.

“Your Majesty, an honor and wonder it is to be welcomed to your lovely home,” Magda said, and bowed to Toriel. Toriel smiled, and poured some tea in the spot she had deemed for her. Beatrix noted, with pleasure, it was the window facing seat, and the sun was bright today. Magda sat, squinting, and Toriel poured Papyrus some tea as well.

“Sans are you joining us?” Toriel called. An exaggerated snore was her response, and she chuckled. “I guess not. Honey, Lady Magda?”

“Please, and cream if it is available.”

Beatrix studied Magda while she prepared her tea. She had changed very little in the eight years they had really known each other. Her hair was short and curled at the ends around her ears and neck. It was dark. Her skin was fair and flawless. Her eyes delicately lined, her lashes long, and her eyes equally dark. She even had a beauty mark off the right corner of her mouth. She probably would have been an actress or model if she hadn’t been born a witch.

“Magic gone awry Beatrix?” Magda said with a pointed look at Beatrix’s bandaged hand. Beatrix resisted the urge to put it on her lap to avoid the older woman’s scrutiny.

“Hardly,” Beatrix said. “I didn’t realize Toriel’s tea pot was already heated when I went to grab it earlier.” Magda’s eyes narrowed just a bit at Beatrix’s use of the Queen’s actual name.

“I helped put ointment on it,” Papyrus said, and puffed his chest up. Beatrix’s own chest filled with warmth at his quick addition. Even so Magda barely looked at him.

“Must of hurt,” she said, and Beatrix could tell by her tone that she didn’t believe it in the least. But she couldn’t push the subject.

“How is your… is it called a Ward?” Toriel asked. Magda turned to her, and her face easily slid to look light and open.

“Oh yes Your Majesty. I have several apprentices ready to take their Test of Lady, or Test of Sir. It is the best feeling a Warden can have see their apprentices become full-fledged mages in their own rights,” Magda said. It was obvious she did actually feel very strongly about it. Her care of her apprentices was what had made Beatrix originally want to join the Hemlock Covenant.

“You’ll have to excuse me that I don’t know the significance of the tests,” Toriel said.

“Ah, of course, how silly of me. No one would have been able to explain it to you since the last meeting,” Magda said, and glanced at Beatrix with the smallest smirk before returning her attention fully to the monster queen. “It is how an apprentice earns their title of lady or sir, give them the right to change covenants as they desire, and perform magic within their covenant’s ward or wards without being monitored at all times. Furthermore it allows them to apply for grants for magical experimentation, and specialized study. Socially it is also much like a rite of passage from a child, titleless apprentice, to an adult titled mage. It signifies they have put in the time and effort to become a mage, and that they could one day hold the office of Warden as it is traditionally done by one being picked from a covenant to hold that position.”

“Ah,” Toriel said, politely. Beatrix felt Papyrus looking at her.

“why is it that she’s a warden but not a lady?” Sans asked as he decided to grace them with his presence. He went over to Papyrus’s side even as Beatrix tightened her grip on her cup.

“It’s not a—“

“Beatrix is what happens when a warden doesn’t determine a successor before walking into her own well,” Magda said primly, and brought her cup to her lips.

It shattered.

“Get out,” Beatrix whispered. Magda looked at her opened mouth with fury.

“You! You broke my cup! You have no right to—“ Beatrix stood, cutting her off. Her hair swirled and cracked with energy around her head like a vengeful storm cloud. Her voice was even when she spoke.

“Get out. Get out of this house. Get out of this town. Get out of  _ my Ward,”  _ she ended on a hiss. Magda opened her mouth. Without so much as a twitch of her hand Beatrix wrapped magic like a gag around her. She could feel magic gathering and burning in her clenched fists, and up her arms. “You will stand. You will walk out the front door. You will walk back to your Ward. You not come back. You will. Leave. Now.” Her voice was a whip with words. Magic flowed from her in thorn vine tendrils, and wrapped around Magda. Her eyes went unfocused as she attempted to throw off Beatrix’s will. For a moment it seemed like she would. But then her eyes went blank. She set down the handle of her cup, all that remained of it, and stood. Woodenly she turned and walked out of the house.

Beatrix was breathing hard, and shaking harder. The infuriated cords of magic were not done lashing out. One broke a chair, one left a burning scorch mark on Toriel’s table, and one shattered a vase behind her. Beatrix could feel it getting worse, and attempted to bring the magic all back to herself. It wrapped around her in burning loops. She couldn’t hold it, she wasn’t strong enough, she wanted to kill Magda, she—

A heavy hand landed on her shoulder. Barely seeing Beatrix whipped her head to face the new threat. “It’s alright,” Toriel said, and easily caught the raged magic that Beatrix instinctively had whipped towards her. She barely winced as it wrapped around her huge fuzzy hand, but she didn’t let go. “It’s alright,” she repeated.

It felt like a balloon popping. Beatrix sucked in a deep breath, closed her eyes, and balled the burning magic like yarn. Toriel relaxed slightly when it let go of her. “I— I need—“

“Sans, one of her jars if you’d please,” Toriel said simply. Her hand had not left Beatrix’s shoulder. Her eyes had not left her face.

A few moments later a jar was tossed to Toriel who caught it easily, and then passed to Beatrix. She shoved the furious ball of magic into the jar, and sealed it.

And there was air in the room again even as Beatrix slumped. Toriel caught her easily. “It’s alright,” she said, again, and put a huge hand on the back of Beatrix’s head. She gathered Beatrix up in her arms. “Papyrus please clean up the broken glass. Sans collect my first aid kit,” Toriel said as she carried Beatrix back to the kitchen where she set her on the counter. She pulled another cloth napkin out and dabbed at Beatrix’s face. Which is when Beatrix realized she had big fat tears rolling down her cheeks.

Irritated she wiped at her eyes with shaking hands. Now that she was out of the rage her body was letting her know what an idiot she had been. She had criss crossing burns all up and down her arms, her limbs trembled from fatigue, and a horrific headache was forming. “I’m sorry I—“

“Hush, I’ve got you,” Toriel said with such kindness and understanding that Beatrix burst into fresh tears. “Papyrus when you are done please get your keys. We will drive the Warden home. Thank you Sans.” He grunted as he handed the kit over, and Beatrix felt the distaste pouring off of him. “Please leave us,” Toriel added.

“but—“

“Now, please,” Toriel repeated when Sans didn’t obey. “If you must be assigned another job please inform the Grand Supreme of what happened. Her number is on my cellphone.”

He hesitated a moment longer, and then retreated to do as she asked.

“Your Majesty, I—“

“My name is Toriel, Beatrix. I will not be accepting explanations right now. Please hold still,” she said. Beatrix choked on a sob, but nodded. She shut her mouth, and let Toriel tend to her.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Please picture it as a Miyazacki-esque hair floofing when she gets mad. Like Howl when he does magic. And also Miyazacki tears. Hell Yeah.


	9. Chapter 9

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Please note the tag that was added. It is nothing explicit, and only really called that at the end.

The Grand Supreme visited a few days later with Madeline in tow. They were sitting on Beatrix’s back patio with some fruit salad, and lemonade. Beatrix’s hands were mostly healed despite the severity of her burns, and her arms already all set. She had just finished filling them in on her side of the story.

The Grand Supreme looked out across the woods behind Beatrix’s house. She knew that the older woman was reaching out to assess the state of the Well. It was pretty common for someone more experienced to do so when a warden had an emotional outburst the likes of what Beatrix had had. Beatrix had spent the last couple of days on high alert over the state of her Well. It was more connected to her than anyone else, and, because it was just her, there weren’t other peoples’ emotions to level it out. It had been a tense couple of days. She had had to quarantine quite a bit of magic that had been altered.

“I understand, and am empathetic to your outburst, Beatrix, but I do not condone it in the least,” the Grand Supreme said when she was good and ready. “In light of the fact that Magda crossed borders without permission, and provoked you in such a way, I will be lenient this time. I have forbade her from stepping into your Ward again. However, if there is a repeat of this I will be doling out severe punishment.”

“Yes Grand Supreme,” Beatrix said.

“Furthermore I am officially setting Madeline as your liaison between your two wards. Because of her familiarity with your Well already I am also granting her moderate magical use in your Ward so long as it does not affect the Ebbott Well,” the Grand Supreme added with a nod more to herself than anyone.

“I’ll make sure Magda doesn’t come back,” Madeline said firmly. “I didn’t know she had planned that stunt. I am so sorry Bea.”

“It’s not your fault,” Beatrix said and swirled her lemonade in her glass. They were quiet again for some time. Finally the Grand Supreme set her glass down.

“Have you petitioned any further covenants to take you in, Beatrix?”

“No,” she said. “No one will take me.”

“Have you even tried since the barrier fell?” Madeline asked.

“No. But I don’t want to be in any covenant that will only have me because I now have a lot of power at my disposal,” she said, firmly. “If they didn’t want me before, I don’t want them now.”

“It would ease some of the strain you are under to have apprentices, and, eventually, other mages here to help you with the Well,” Madeline reasoned. Beatrix scowled. She knew she was coming from a good place, but Beatrix’s own point still stood. Besides she didn’t  _ want  _ anyone else. Not to mention she’d be at the whim of the Supreme of that covenant that, while certainly couldn’t dictate her Warden duties, could make her day to day life as a witch living hell.

“Have you considered applying to form your own covenant?” the Grand Supreme asked. Both of the other women looked at her.

“A new one hasn’t been formed in more than a century,” Madeline said.

“Yes, but there is nothing to stop one from forming.”

“I’m not a Lady, though,” Beatrix said with a note of bitterness. “Magda made sure of that.” The Grand Supreme made a dismissive noise.

“There is very little about your situation that is traditional, Beatrix. I believe that your duties as Warden would be more than sufficient to showcase your abilities. I also know your mother would not have been remiss in your teachings. It is why I allowed you to become Warden in the first place.”

“I might not have the aptitude for it,” Beatrix argued.

Again the Grand Supreme made a dismissive noise. “You have the aptitude for it. I took a tour of the monster’s side of town. You had that fixed up rather quickly, and have urged the mingling of the denzins both monstrous and not in your Ward. You have made mistakes, yes, but they are mistakes I expected to see. You have taken the appropriate steps to fix them. Apply for a covenant, Beatrix. That way apprentices can be moved here, you can pass on your mother’s teachings, and you will not be so alone.”

“I’m not lonely,” Beatrix protested even though she knew it would not be of any use. This is the Grand Supreme.

“When you apply, and when it passes, I will preside as Supreme of it for a trial period. Then it will be passed into your hands. I will have one of my assistants send you the paperwork.”

“But--”

“Now, as wonderful as it was to see you, I would like to go visit with Toriel. I do miss our discussions,” the Grand Supreme said, and stood. She was an old wizened thing, but age barely seemed to mar her movements. “Madeline?”

“I’ll be right along,” she said. The Grand Supreme nodded, and brought her bowl and cup inside. “It is a good idea Beatrix.”

“Probably. I just don’t like the thought of being around someone all the time. Or having them mess with my magic. Or showing them how to use their own,” Beatrix sighed, and rubbed her face. “I’ve never taught anyone before. I don’t know if I will be any good at it.”

Madeline laughed quietly. “You mother said the same thing to me before we got our first apprentices. And then she was far better at it than anyone else.” The two of them fell quiet. “I’m sorry Beatrix that her actions are still--”

“Don’t,” Beatrix said, sharply. “Don’t. I don’t… resent her the way I used to. It hurts that she left me knowing I was all alone, but I know she was in so much pain. I helped clean the Well of it daily. I just… I can’t stand when people, but Magda,” she spat her name, “most of all talks about it. Like she was this big failure for not wanting to hurt anymore.”

“I know,” Madeline said, and stood. She sat next to Beatrix on the little outdoor loveseat she had, and put an arm around her. Beatrix leaned her head onto Madeline’s shoulder. “But as far as the application goes, look at it this way, if you start your own covenant I can petition to transfer to it!”

“Pfft like I’d let someone like you in,” Beatrix said, and pressed her smile into Madeline’s shaking shoulder to hide how tears threatened.

“I wish things hadn’t worked out like they did, Bea. I wish I could have done more,” Madeline said, getting serious again. She must have felt Beatrix’s trembling lip.

“I know,” she said, strangled.

“Do you? I brought it before the magical council. I almost hexed someone over it,” she said. Beatrix laughed at the thought of her veritable godmother throwing a malicious spell at the second highest judge in the country. “But with the Grand Supreme helping you get the ropes as Warden they didn’t feel like it would be needed. Ignoring, of course, you were a 17 year old that had lost both parents in the span of the year. I’m hoping I can make changes to it all in the future.”

“You’d practically have to be Grand Supreme to do that, and even then it’s not guaranteed,” Beatrix said. Madeline hummed in agreement, and then sighed.

“Alright, I’ve got to get going. You know the Grand Supreme can’t legally drive. I’ll be back to visit soon.”

“Okay,” Beatrix said. She shook her head in amazement, however, over the fact that the Grand Supreme having early stages of blindness was even a thing. She would have thought magic would be able to fix something like that.

Beatrix had Madeline carry the dirty dishes, and she herself grabbed the pitcher of lemonade and the bowl of fruit salad.

It wasn't long after that she felt the telltale sign of Sans popping in nearby. A handful of breaths later there was a knock on her front door. “Come in,” she said from where she was sitting at her kitchen table. She was prepping some vegetables for pickling.

“Hello,” Papyrus said as he came into the kitchen. Frisk danced around him, and passed Beatrix her glasses as they came. Beatrix had shown them where they were kept. She put them on. “We wanted to come by, and see how you are feeling,” he said while wringing his hands together.

“Better,” Beatrix said, and dumped some of the cucumbers into a jar. She didn’t eat pickles, but Frank liked them. Frisk danced back into the hallway, and came back with Sans in tow. They pushed him up to Beatrix, and pointed at her quite sternly. Beatrix raised an eyebrow at all of this.

Sans looked like he was sunk into himself a little bit. He sighed after a minute, and said, “sorry.” At Beatrix’s confused expression he added, “for opening you up to that question the lady asked. we didn’t know that was a sore spot, or that that had happened or… yeah.”

“It’s not your fault,” Beatrix said even though part of her was bitter at him for even asking. Not just because it allowed Magda to open the can of worms it had, but because it had shown his true mistrust in her holding her station.

“The Grand Supreme explained to us what happened to your mother. I hope that is okay. We wanted to offer our condolences as well,” Papyrus said even as Sans slunk around to a chair.

“It was a long time ago.”

“Eight years isn’t that long,” Frisk said. Beatrix didn’t have much to say in response to that. Frisk climbed up onto a chair at the table. “Do you need help?”

“I’d love it,” Beatrix said, and began showing Frisk how to pickle vegetables. She was grateful for any excuse to not talk or think about her mother’s suicide for a little bit.


	10. Chapter 10

“How many skeleton monsters are there?” Beatrix asked Papyrus. He and Frisk were helping her plant her Fall plants.

“Just Sans and I, why?”

“I just found out he was one when he came to get me the other day. Surprised me.”

“They are brothers,” Frisk said.

“Huh.”

“Huh, what?” Papyrus asked, and rubbed his forehead.

“You guys are very different.”

“Well yeah, we are brothers not clones.”

“I wouldn’t know, I don’t have siblings,” Beatrix said. “Also there is dirt on your face.”

“Oh, poo,” he said, and wiped at his head some more. He only got more on him. Frisk laughed at him too, with no sound. “Yeah well, I look better than you do.” At Frisk’s confused look Papyrus reached over, and smudged dirt on their face. They protested by waving their hands at him, and making a fart noises with their tongue.

They heard a car pull up her gravel driveway, and turned to see a beat up red pickup. Frank leaned out the window, and waved.

“Hey Bea!”

Lesser Dog leaned out the other window and barked. Frisk jumped to their feet, and ran over to greet him. Beatrix and Papyrus got up at a slower rate. By the time they got over to the truck the passengers had gotten out. Shockingly, Linda was with them, and, with her, a little girl. They looked younger than Frisk, and were staring at them with wide eyes.

“Frank invited us. I hope that’s alright,” Linda said. She and her daughter were eyeing Papyrus nervously.

“That is more than alright,” Beatrix said once she had gotten over her surprise. “Papyrus, this is Linda, and…?”

“Emily,” Linda said.

“Emily. Linda, Emily, this is Papyrus. And Frisk,” Beatrix added when the other child came back from where they had been throwing a stick for Lesser Dog. Lesser Dog was in shorts and a t-shirt today.

Papyrus smiled, and crouched down. He reached his hand out. “Hello little human. I am not scary.”

Emily stared, wide-eyed, at his hand. After a quick look at her mother, she reached out and high fived it. Papyrus looked puzzled. “I thought I was initiating a handshake.”

“He’s warm Mommy,” Emily whispered.

“That’s my magic! I’ve been told it is very welcoming and nurturing!” Papyrus said, and straightened himself up. He puffed his chest proudly, and put his hands on his hips with a delighted ‘nyeh.’ Both mother and daughter looked markedly less nervous after the interaction.

“She doesn’t really like skeletons. Some older kids scared her one Halloween,” Linda explained.

“Frisk has mentioned this Halloween to me. I cannot wait for us to properly celebrate it this year. We have been too busy last years.”

“I was a kitty last year,” Emily said.

“Here Emily. Take my glasses. You’ll be able to talk to Frisk that way,” Beatrix said, and handed over her magical sunglasses. Frisk had sidled up to Papyrus, and had been staring at the younger girl.

“I’m Emily,” Emily said when she had them on. She was still holding onto Linda’s leg.

“I’m Frisk,” Frisk signed. Beatrix was to a point where she could hold a basic conversation with Frisk without the sunglasses, even if Frisk picked on her mercilessly for how clumsy her hands were. “Do you want to play with Lesser Dog with me?”

“Can I play Mommy?”

“Yes dear,” Linda said. “Keep her out of the woods please. And where I can see her if you aren’t around them Lesser Dog.”

He barked in agreement, and off the three went.

“To what do I owe the pleasure?” Beatrix asked, and they gravitated back towards the garden. “Also refreshments?”

“I can get them,” Papyrus offered. Frank grabbed a couple of Beatrix’s lawn chairs, and brought them over.

“That would be great Paps,” Beatrix said. “Thank you.”

“Haven’t hung out in a while. Wanted to see how the garden was coming,” Frank said, and the two of them sat.

“We were already planning on an outing, so,” Linda said with a shrug, and Frank beamed at her. Beatrix couldn’t help but smile as well. Frank had told her the last time she exchanged vegetables with him for honey that Linda and him had been having lunch together most days.

“We didn’t realize we would be interrupting,” Frank added.

“Not at all. Frisk is really interested in gardening, and my chickens. Papyrus is their guard… and also interested in the chickens.”

“Their round fluffiness intrigues and delights me,” Papyrus said having returned with her ever present lemonade, and some chips he had found. “Their clucking is also pleasant.”

“Let me get a table for you big guy,” Frank said, and got up to do that. He returned with a little round table that Papyrus put the tray he had the stuff on, on. Linda poured four glasses of lemonade for the people present. “What are you planting Bea?”

“Pumpkins, obviously. Cauliflower, broccoli, onions, turnips, radishes, and carrots. I have some freshly jarred stuff that is pickling if you guys would like some. I’ve also got some pears in the trees over there that are almost ready for picking, and some apple trees that are flowering wonderfully,” Beatrix said as she pulled up some of the plants that had gone by already.

“Papyrus can you see what the kids are doing?” Linda asked. He nodded, and jogged around the back of the house to check on them. “I wanted to tell you Ted took a vacation. He left Friday and should be coming back Tuesday.”

“Oh, thank you for letting me know. In the future it is fine to say anything like that in front of Papyrus, or any of the Royal Family or their guards. Maybe not in front of Frisk though.”

“Noted. Wanted to be careful just in case,” Linda said nervously.

“Understandable. Would you think the kids, and you guys of course, want to do some s’mores?”

“I didn’t get this gut saying no to those sort of invitations there Bea,” Frank laughed. The three of them went to find the two kids, and two monsters to ask their thoughts on s’mores. Only, when they turned the corner to the back of the house Papyrus was coming towards them carrying Frisk.

“Sans will be here momentarily. Frisk is not feeling well,” Papyrus said. Linda moved forwards immediately, and put her hand on Frisk’s forehead.

“Oh dear, you are burning up,” she said. Frisk really didn’t look good. They were incredibly pale, and visibly sweaty. They signed apologies to them all.

“No need to say sorry kiddo. You don’t feel good. It happens. Can I get you something?” Beatrix asked. Frisk shook their head.

There was a pop of magic, and Sans showed up a few feet away. “hey,” he said even when Linda jumped with a yelp. Frank sucked in a breath, and clutched his chest. The reaction made Sans flinch.

“Goodness I didn’t know monster could do that,” Frank wheezed. Sans shrugged, and went over to Papyrus.

“hey, feeling sick again kid?” he asked. Frisk nodded, their lip trembling, and reached for him. He took them from Papyrus, they wrapped their arms around his neck, and pressed their face into his shoulder. Sans patted their back. “there there we’ll get you right home to mom huh? ‘sides we don’t want to get anyone else sick right?” They nodded against his shoulder. It was the most animated, and caring, Beatrix had ever seen the shorter skeleton.

“Bye Frisk, I hope you feel better,” Emily said from where she had reattached herself to Linda’s leg. There were generally murmurs of agreement with Emily, and Lesser Dog gave a little whine.

“We will have to play again some other time, Emily. I will have Beatrix give your mother my cellphone number so we can set up a play date, if that is alright?” Papyrus said.

“No problem Paps,” Beatrix said when Linda agreed. “Feel better Frisk.” Papyrus took Sans’ free hand.

“see ya,” Sans said, not really looking at Beatrix. There was a gathering, and a pop, and they were gone.

“Can all monsters do that?” Frank asked.

“No clue, to be honest.”

Lesser Dog barked an answer, but, of course, none of them could understand it.

“Hey, Lesser Dog, want me to try to make you something so humans can understand you?” Beatrix asked. It was something she had talked to Toriel about. All monsters could understand each other, something to do with magic apparently, but monsters like Lesser Dog were having some problems fitting into society. Toriel said she would try to teach Beatrix how to understand it, but they hadn’t had the time thus far. Either which way humans couldn’t understand monsters that didn’t have a more traditional communication method, and those monsters didn’t always want other monsters there to translate for them. It frustrated Toriel that there were large sects of monsters that still felt so bound because of this lack of communicative independence. “It’s something I’ve been working on.”

Lesser Dog wagged his tail.

“Alright. Frank, Linda, there is a fire pit over there. If you guys can get some sticks from the edge of the woods I can start a fire for s‘mores.”

“S’mores!?” Emily gasped. “We are going to have s’mores?!”

“After we finish making the thing for Lesser Dog. Want to help?”

“Yes!”

About an hour later Lesser Dog said, “I like it!” about his new blue lace agate, and turquoise necklace. Emily had picked a bright pink cord for the half circle pendant of stones to go on. “Can you understand me?”

“Yes!” Emily said, and put her arms out to be picked up, which Lesser Dog did quite happily.

“I can’t wait to buy stuff at the supermarket by myself!” Lesser Dog said, his tail going a mile a minute, and twirling Emily in a circle.

“I’ll have to make more for others,” Beatrix said with a smile. “Though, let’s let you do a week with this one first. Seriously if you feel weird or anything, take it off and give it to Frank. I don’t  _ think  _ the magic in it would mess with you because it has been shaped to do a job.”

“But you don’t know, with us being magic and all,” Lesser Dog said.

“Right. I haven’t done any experiments with magical items and monsters. Or even wild magic and magical forms. Didn’t seem like a polite thing to ask.”

“I’m alright with being the test case. If only so I can tell Frank his feet stink,” Lesser Dog said, and gave Frank a sly look.

“Hey! No they don’t!”

“I have a stronger nose than you! They totally do!”

“They do a little,” Linda agreed. Frank spluttered in offense while the rest of them all laughed.

“But in all seriousness, I will let you know right away if anything happens,” Lesser Dog added. “I can’t believe no one had thought to do this for monsters yet.”

“I have to admit, same. We have some spells for people with disabilities, and for translation already. I just took one of those and modified it just a little…. Which, uh, please don’t tell anyone I did that either. I’m not really encouraged to just make up my own stuff for artificing….”

“Hey, I’m a dog not a rat Warden,” Lesser Dog said, and laughed again. “Man I am going to go buy so many squeaky toys.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hey updates will slow down a bit for a week or two probably. I’m dealing with some personal stuff, and am away from my computer. And typing chapters the length I like on the phone is soooooo fuuuuun. Not to be that person but please leave comments telling me what you like/don’t like yada yada. I LIVE FOR THEM. 
> 
> Stuff I looked up for this:  
> Looked up early fall/late summer veggies  
> Blue lace agate and turquoise for communication. Blue lace also for calming, and turquoise for protection. Among other things.
> 
> ALSO to note I really picture Frank like sheriff bubs from gravity falls, but with dark hair??? Like that was in my mind when I made his character. I haven’t even really watched that show either.
> 
> ALSO ALSO to note I, personally, picture Frisk as a girl simply because I am a girl so when I played I pictured them as me and all that jazz. However for this fic, and the overall tone in fics I like them as non-binary. Which isn’t me wanting to fit in but more I really like them as non-binary, and want my depiction of them as that. It’s that MY frisk in my game I consider a girl. Frisk as a character in the larger canon I see as non-binary. Does any of this make sense? I’m writing it on my phone at 1:39 in the morning. But I mention all this to say that if I ever call Frisk she/her it isn’t intentional. I am intentionally trying to use they/them but I ain’t perfect and have already done a she/her I’ve fixed in a pre upload read through. Ya feel? Please call it out if you see it.
> 
> Woof that was all a long stream of consciousness. Hope everyone is well and your suffering eases soon if you are, in fact, suffering.


	11. Chapter 11

“Daffodil maybe?” Beatrix mused as she sat at Toriel’s table. She had filled out the majority of the paperwork for her application for a covenant, but she was stuck on the name.

“What are the requirements?” Papyrus asked when he and Frisk were similarly stumped with their math homework. Though, truth be told, Papyrus seemed to know the answers, but wanted Frisk to do it themselves.

“None really. Plant names are traditional, but minerals and constellations have been used as well. Daffodils are good for new beginnings, or rebirth. But I don’t super love the name…”

“cove,” Sans supplied while he checked Frisk’s work. He was even better at math than Papyrus.

“Cove?”

“enant,” Sans said quickly after Beatrix asking. He snickered as Papyrus made a supremely unhappy noise at him.

“Tulips.”

“Those can be seen as a declaration of love, so, no,” Beatrix said. She tapped her pencil on the table.

“titan arum.”

“Isn’t that also known as the corpse flower?” Frisk asked after waving their hands to get his attention.

“Yup, and super not going to be the name of my covenant. Strike two man.”

“party poopers. carry the five frisk,” Sans said. The front door opened, and the King came in.

“Statice for remembrance, sympathy, success….”

“Sounds a lot like static. Unchanging,” Papyrus said, and Sans oohed over his wordplay adjacent comment. Papyrus rolled his eyes, but he looked pleased anyways.

“Snapdragon means strength and graciousness,” the King said, and sat with them at the table. “Math Frisk?”

“Unfortunately. I missed this lesson,” Frisk signed with grumbly hands. “What about dandelions?”

“Those are a weed.”

“You can make a tea from the roots,” the King said, distractedly, as he looked over some of Frisk’s work.

“Iris,” Toriel said as she came in with snacks.

“There is already an Iris Covenant.”

“An aster?”

“no,” Sans said. Papyrus similarly shook his head in the negative.

“What are we talking about?” the King suddenly asked.

“Bea needs a name for her covenant,” Toriel said, and gave Frisk a plate with some pie on it. She also gave them a glass of milk.

“It’s just an application right now,” Beatrix said, and rubbed her neck.

“Ah. Golden flower then. I think the Aboveground scientific name is Ulex. Some common names for it are gorse, furze, and whin.”

“Oh yeah, golden flower would be good. We have those Underground too,” Papyrus said. He graciously accepted a plate from Toriel as well.

“They make a nice tea,” the King said, sagely. “Also their seeds need fire to open, they are incredibly hardy, and can grow in very rocky areas.”

“And they are very symbolic for the Royal Family. They only really started growing in the Underground after, um,” Papyrus trailed off at a sharp look from both royals. “After they fell into the Underground.”

“We liked them, so we encouraged their growth,” the King said simply.

“I do like the sound of whin…” Beatrix said.

“it would make your covenant a real  _ whin _ ner.”

“Stop it,” Papyrus said.

“Maybe Ulex then,” Beatrix said, and wrote it down before she could change her mind. That decided she tapped the papers neatly in place with each other. “I’m going to perform a bit of magic,” she said.

“Go ahead,” Toriel replied as she went back to the kitchen to collect more servings of pie.

Beatrix pulled out a jar with an orange red ball of magic in it. Already it started to look like a flame. Those at the table were watching with a variety of looks on their face: intense interest from Papyrus and Frisk but more of a reserved wariness from the King and Sans.

Beatrix opened the jar, and fed the papers in. The magic consumed them, and then jumped out onto the table. The King and Sans flinched. Beatrix covered it with her hand, impressed her will onto it, and, when she took her hand away, there was a magical bird in its place.

“Bring them to the Grand Supreme, please,” Beatrix told the magical bird. It sung a note pure as a bell, flapped its wings, and seemed to burn itself away in the air before her.

“Where’d it go?” Frisk asked.

“It’s traveling along ley lines between wells to find the Grand Supreme ASAP. She is always connected to a well to a minimal extent at least, and that magic will be able to hone in on her. Then it will reform the forms, and my application will be considered.”

“So you sent magic into other wards?” Toriel asked when she returned with the last servings of pie to hand out. She had snuck in the other plates while Beatrix performed magic. “I would think that wouldn’t be allowed.”

“It is a socially acceptable gray area. It is very rare for someone to abuse sending messages via magic ley lines. There have only been like… three cases of it being punished? The spell is taught to apprentices pretty early on so they don’t get weirded out about odd feeling magic zipping through. It’s only when one person sends a huge amount of them, and they are abusive in nature that people have been punished for it. Or when they perform the spell wrong, and their traveling magic lingers in a well to mess with it..”

“Could someone send… dangerous magic through ley lines?” the King asked.

“Technically? Yes, but the spells to do that sort of thing have been outlawed, and sealed in family tomes.”

“Family tomes?” Frisk asked, homework widely forgotten between the food, and the now impromptu magic lesson.

“Family tomes, also called spellbooks. I have one from each person in my lineage. When a mage is made a lady or a sir they can start independent magical research as you’ve heard. At that time they also start their spellbook. Their research goes in it to help those down their line or in general in their future research. The are a magical history, and often a personal one as well. Part instruction manual, part research notes, and part diary. The majority of spells we have today are based on the research done by those before us. However, every couple of years a Grand Supreme, and their magical council, go through tomes that had been released. Or research that has made significant headway. The goal is to check that all spells they’ve created, and magic they’ve studied, is safe. If it is found that something is unsafe the research is more closely monitored, or banned outright. There used to be spells, I’m sure, that were used to mess with other people’s wards, especially after monsters were banished Underground.”

“the magical community  _ knew _ ?” Sans said, and there was no light coming from his hood.

“Not really,” Beatrix said. “It was talked about, but the tomes were heavily restricted post-war. Until your re-emergence we assumed that monsters were products of malicious magic because of survivor bias.”

“Naturally we were not looked at in a positive light,” the King said. Beatrix nodded.

“Because of this even more of the history was restricted in the worry that even the smallest hint would allow modern day mages to recreate these spells. Now that the actual truth is out there the current Grand Supreme assigned a special magical council to review our histories.”

Sans didn’t look entirely convinced, or mollified.

“That’s enough of all this talk,” Toriel said, finally. “Frisk needs to do their math work, and the rest of you need to eat your pie. Naturally we all wish you luck Beatrix, but that is enough magical talk for now.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Shit is about to pop off y'all. The next two chapters are ones I thought really really hard about. So i am going to be super critical of them lol.
> 
> For this chapter I used the flowerexpert dot com for meanings of flowers discussed in this chapter. I also saw that there is a fan theory about the golden flowers being gorse (but I didn't like that name) so i looked up THOSE and read part of the Ulex wiki. While the meaning for the Ulex isn't quite what I pictured since it is a symbol for love and fertility... but the importance of it in the Undertale canon I think overshadows that. I did almost go with Daffodil or dandelion though. The symbolism for the first, and because I pictured the Golden flowers being the second.
> 
> Anywho chapters will still be put up kinda oddly. I have family visiting my apartment, and it is hard to work on this with them around. However I have not forgotten this fic, and if I ever do decide to discontinue it (which i don't) i will lay out what my plans were for it and give everyone a heads up.
> 
> Hope all is well for everyone! please comment it feeds my magpie soul with your bright shiny words.


	12. Chapter 12

Beatrix woke with a start in the middle of the night. She grasped at her chest. She couldn’t breath. There was an incredible weight, and her lungs weren’t cooperating. Something was  _ wrong _ but she didn’t-- wasn’t sure what--

Beatrix threw the covers off herself, and launched herself out of bed with a strangled gasp of air. There was something wrong with the Well.

She ran downstairs at a breakneck speed. She went so fast she couldn’t stop herself at the bottom, and ran into the wall. She caught herself, thankfully, with her hands. She shoved herself off of it just as quickly. Beatrix then threw herself out the front door without gathering her shoes.

There was a pop of magic barely felt amongst the swirling upheaval of whatever was upsetting the Well.

“Sans,” she choked, and ran to him. He spun in a circle; looking for something it seemed.

“where is frisk? where is papyrus? what is happening?” he demanded, and flinched back when she reached for him.

“Frisk? Papyrus? What?” she slurred. She was half out of her mind with the strength of the Well’s feelings. Frisk had been sick, sicker than they had ever been before now, for a week. Beatrix hadn’t seen them since the day of the pie and math homework. “The Well, something is--”

He sucked in a breath, and she looked behind them. The largest Well Seeker was there. It was shifting wildly between bright red and green and navy blue. It pawed at the ground, and lowered its horns towards them.

“hold on,” Sans said, and wrapped an arm around her just as it charged. There was a pop, and nothing, and then they appeared where she had weeks ago shown them the Well. “paps,” Sans choked, and took a step towards the Well.

Beatrix shot her hand out, and grabbed his hoodie. She floundered, and just caught his hood. He whipped his head around, and, for the first time, she saw his face.

The look on it was murderous. There was no light in his right eye socket. The left side had a large chip, and huge, spidering cracks, along the top of the zygomatic bone up towards the temporal process. There was nothing but black in the right, but in the damaged one she could see into the socket. She could see the bones: sphenoid, lacrimal, her brain provided hysterically. The cracks continued into it. Where another chip was missing in it there was complete blackness that prevented her from seeing whatever was truly in his skull.

“Stay,” she said as quickly as she gathered her wits about her. The spell she cast was messy. Tree roots shot from the ground, and held him in place. Something about what she cast seemed to lock him there. She felt him attempt to call up his teleportation magic, but it refused to do as he asked.

“let me go! that is my brother!” Sans screamed, and thrashed against the roots. Beatrix turned away from him. He was no longer an issue.

The ball of bones being consumed by the Well was.

Beatrix ran towards it even as she opened herself more fully to the Well. It  _ wanted,  _ it was  _ lonely,  _ they were  _ hurting,  _ it could  _ help. _

“Stop!” Beatrix screamed at the song it was SCREAMING for her, and them, to hear. “Papyrus!”

“Warden? I would, very much, require your help,” Papyrus called, muffled, from inside the ball. They were well passed the warning posts in the ground. The Well had stretched itself nearly fifteen feet towards the ball of interlocked bones. Beatrix threw her hand out towards the tendrils of the Well that were now shooting for her. She was able to turn them aside. Barely.

“What is happening?” she said. Beatrix tried to push away the magic, but it resisted her. It  _ wanted _ \--

“I don’t know. Something is wrong with Frisk. I can’t--”

The Wall of bones parted before her, and she stumbled in. Just as quickly they slammed shut behind her. She felt a tendril slam into the wall that was now protecting her.

Frisk was kneeling on the ground with Frisk held, protectively, to him. He had a faint blue glow around his chest. Frisk was glowing as well in what seemed in synch with the Well outside. Papyrus was sweating heavily.

Beatrix fell to the ground beside him, and touched Frisk’s forehead. The unmistakable feel of magic was coming from them. When Beatrix touched them she felt, with a jolt, anger, fear, and an intense sadness.

Beatrix jerked her hand back. Whatever magic was coming off Frisk hummed an accompaniment to the Well. Not matching, but complimenting. The harmony to the melody of the Well.

“What happened?”

“The Queen went to check on them, but they were gone. I… I felt them, they left a trial. I didnt think, I followed. I caught them here. I don’t know how they got this far, I--” Papyrus groaned, and crumpled just a bit. A hole started to form in the protective shell around them. The Well was consuming it. Papyrus took a deep breath, straightened, and glared up at the hole. It repaired itself with more bones. “I would like to leave here, please,” he said. His voice was terribly strained.

“I’m going to get you both out of here,” Beatrix said, and stood. She wasn’t sure how, but she was sure she needed to. She closed her eyes, and let the Well come to her.

It… it hurt. It hurt so bad. All of the altered will crashed into her. It demanded so much. It wanted them. Wanted to save them, protect them, for them all to become one so they couldn’t get hurt.

_ We can’t,  _ Beatrix thought, firmly, to the Well.  _ Not yet. It is not our time. _

_ Come to me, Bea-Bea,  _ the Well crooned in return. Beatrix let out a sob.The Well spoke with her mother’s voice.

“Beatrix,” Papyrus said. His voice sounded incredibly weak. He took her hand. “I can’t hold this much longer.”

Beatrix cracked her eyes, and looked at him. In looking at him she felt a sense of clarity. She saw… the essence of him. The Integrity in his very soul, the definition of his character.

“Please,” he said.

Beatrix took his hand in both of his. The pounding of the Well’s demands faded. Papyrus’s… self seemed to center in on his chest. She, without thinking, reached out. She touched it with one finger, and blinked.

A young skeleton was looking up at her. He had a hat on his head, a smile on his face, and a big coat on because of the snow he was knee deep in.

“Paps?” she mumbled. He laughed in delight, and reached out to her as well. Beatrix shouted as she felt a bolt of lighting seem to go through her. There was a purple tinge around them now, a smell of apple pie, and birdsong.

Beatrix clutched her hand to his, and gently wrapped her hand around the heart of him. She held it reverently. It made her think of tissue paper. She didn’t want to tear it.

“Can we go home now?” little Papyrus asked, and swung their bound hands with a happy nyeh.

Beatrix smiled, and hummed an affirmative. She blinked.

When she opened her eyes Papyrus as she knew him looked at her with an unreadable expression on his face. Her hand was wrapped around what seemed like a club, or an upside down heart.

She could not, at the moment, hear the Well.

“I’ve got you,” she said. “Trust me.”

“I’ve got you, too,” Papyrus said. His hand dropped from her chest to wrap tightly around Frisk. Beatrix could hear the Well again. It wasn’t taking up the whole of her mind anymore.

Beatrix took a deep breath. She impressed her will on Papyrus, on the magic that seemed to make him up, on the center, the heart, the… SOUL of him. She made it known that she simply wanted to get them somewhere safe.

She smiled again, and set her forehead against his.

  
“I’ve got us.”   


**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Looked up labeled skull pictures for this as well as what colors mean what in canon of Undertale. Blue is for integrity.


	13. Chapter 13

The giant skull exploded from the bone ball. It threw off the tendrils of the Well, and carried them, wildly, away from it. Somehow they didn’t get thrown clean off when it crashed on the ground. It skidded to a stop barely before the bound Sans.

“paps, you, a gaster blaster, how--” Sans said even as it disappeared beneath them, and they all fell to the ground. Frisk groaned.

“Release him,” Beatrix ordered to the roots keeping Sans in place. She grabbed him. “I need you to go to my house. In the basement is a big, red bag. I need it. I need it, and as many of the largest jars you can bring me, now,” she said. Sans looked, wildly, between her, Frisk, and Papyrus. “Now!”

He disappeared.

“I need Frisk now Papyrus,” Beatrix said, gently. All the while with her mind half on the roiling, furious mass of the Well. Papyrus squeezed Frisk for a moment, and then settled them into Beatrix’s arm.

Sans reappeared.

“Take the blanket out, and spread it on the ground. Here,” Beatrix ordered even as she grabbed several items from the bag herself.

Papyrus and Sans grabbed the black blanket, and smoothed it out where she indicated just inside the boundary posts. On it, painted in white, was a triangle with a circle inside. One of the points of the triangle was facing the Well. Runes for protection surrounded the circle. 

“Papyrus, set up the jars behind me, off the blanket but near the flat side of the triangle,” Beatrix said. She set Frisk in the circle. Then she took some dirt on the back right corner of the triangle, water in a bowl to the left, and lit a candle at the top of it. The air in her lungs completed the elements.

Finally Beatrix grabbed the scythe, and crook that had been attached to the bag. The scythe was made of silver, and the crook of iron. “It is time for you both to back up. A lot.”

Beatrix took her place in the circle where she stood above Frisk. For the first time she realized she was still in her nightgown that fluttered from the force of the Well now rushing towards her. But that was fine. It was alright.

This she had done before.

The first wave of magic slammed against the top of the triangle. The shape, strongest of them, held. The magic split, and circled it. Soon she was surrounded by bright, glowing, singing magic. It tested the edges of the triangle, but, still, it held. 

“I am the Warden, and you are my Ward,” she whispered, repeating the words her mother had taught her to ground herself.

She thrust the crook up, and into the magic. She twisted the tool, and it balled a mass of the magic around itself.  _ Like eating spaghetti _ , her mother had told her. Just as quickly she sliced through the connection between her ball and the rest of the magic with the scythe. The magic she had cut from the flow fell from the crook onto her own form. Beatrix shuddered from the fear in it, but, with considerable effort, directed the tainted magic back into one of the large jars. She directed its flow with the crook.

She repeated the process, over and over, until the Well was no longer screaming and flaring with different intense colors. She repeated it until the jars as big as herself were full, and she had sealed them.

Then Beatrix turned her attention to Frisk.

She placed her hand on the child’s chest. After a moment she grabbed, and pulled. Frisk made a noise as Beatrix pulled the magic that had been festering in Frisk all this time, making them sick, out of their small body.

Beatrix felt the nature of it. Then she cut it off with the scythe as well.

Frisk shouted, clutched at their chest, and shot up into a sitting position. They looked at her wide eyed as Beatrix placed their stopped up magic into a smaller jar she had grabbed previously.

“It’s alright,” Beatrix said, and then reach out to the Well. “It’s alright,” she said again.  _ I will come to you one day. But not tonight. _

_ I want to protect you Bea-Bea,  _ the Well said back. It was sleepy now that she had soothed it. It drew itself back to its pond, and settled, calmly within its confines. The scattered, previously enraged, Well Seekers returned to lower themselves once more into the magic till their next seeking.

The flame from the candle went out, the dirt scattered, the water in the bowl evaporated, and Beatrix collapsed.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> “While gold is known as a symbol of power and dominance, silver is typically seen as representative of truth and trust.” learningreligion . com
> 
> “Use iron in grounding rituals and workings…. iron itself is associated with protection...Iron is associated with the planet Mars, as well as the deity by that name. Keep in mind, Mars was a god of war, and so iron is an almost archetypical representation of the warrior, of power, and of courage” Same as above
> 
> Just stuff on symbolism of metals.
> 
> Also you know how sometimes shit just happens in writing that your brain kinda tricked you into doing? That happened with the scythe and crook. I’ve been associating Bea with farming this whole time mostly because I picture her as the weird witchy lady in the woods that grows all her own organic food, and has chickens everywhere. And so it was super natural to make the Well cleansing tools be farming related. I had the picture for the scythe for a long time, and the crook was almost a pitchfork (but I HATED that visual). I needed something for her to draw the magic down and apart from the whole flow of it and thus the crook. 
> 
> Also my life is kinda combusting around me at the moment. So, you know, slow updates and all that. Siiiiigh. Never leave high school kids. Never get older than ten, actually. Not worth it.
> 
> Please leave a comment if you can. They are nice and I really could use some nice right now.
> 
> I hope everyone is well and is enjoying this story and the many others I am positive you are reading!!!


	14. Chapter 14

Beatrix’s body  _ hurt _ when she woke up. It was a bone and brain deep sort of ache from processing the enraged will of the Well. It wasn’t an unfamiliar feeling to her, but it was an unwelcome one.

She was in her room, and in her bed. The comforter was nearly swallowing her up, just how she liked it, and the sun was shining through her window. She figured it must be afternoon.

She also figured she should process what the fuck happened last night. If it even was last night. She had no idea how long she had been asleep.

A tentative reach for the Well confirmed it stable, so she must not have been out for more than a day or two.

Beatrix sighed, and closed her eyes again. She felt like an idiot to be completely honest.

Frisk was a mage.

Thinking back on it it all made sense. The kid was constantly sick, and it was from magical buildup in their body. Beatrix had experienced the same when she was first finding her powers. Only her mother had been there to ease the trapped magic from her body, and return it safely to the stream constantly around them.

It must have been much worse for Frisk who did not have that guardian, and constantly surrounded by beings literally made of magic. It would explain why Beatrix didn’t notice it bleeding off of the kid, but she still felt like an idiot.

Then there was the matter of the feeling of the magic she pulled from Frisk to ease their pain.

It had been a whirlwind of fear, hate, and immense grief. It had been incredibly potent as well considering it had made the entire Well rise up to consume them.

_ Or comfort them,  _ Beatrix thought tiredly. She felt some tears leak from her eyes. The call of the Well had never been stronger. It just wanted to protect them, to take their pain away and keep them safe.

The potential cost, though, was too much.

Beatrix pushes those thoughts away, and returned to her consideration of Frisk. Why were their emotions so negative, and strong? From what Beatrix had seen they were surrounded by a loving family, and supported and accepted in every way. Their non traditional gender never seemed to trip up any monster the way it did to a fair number of humans. Their inability to speak was not an issue to their either. Every monster she had seen seemed to understand Frisk.  _ we all know how to talk in hands,  _ Sans had once said.

_ Sans, _ Beatrix realized. He didn’t like mages from what Beatrix had seen. Humans with magic made him tense, and nervous. Perhaps that was the reason—

“Ah, you are awake,” Toriel said. Beatrix jolted with a start, and hissed as her sore muscles protested. “And not untouched from last nights adventures.”

“Frisk is a mage,” Beatrix blurted out. Toriel sighed, and nodded.

“May I come in?” Toriel asked. Beatrix nodded her permission, and attempted to sit up more on her bed. Toriel quickly moved to help her, and piled pillows behind her. Then she took the rocking chair that was in the corner, and pulled it over to the bed. She sat in it (albeit very carefully). “The boys told me everything that happened. I was hoping to hear your side.”

“Of course,” Beatrix said, and told Toriel her version of events. “They had a magical buildup. It’s common in budding mages. I’m sorry I didn’t see it.”

Toriel was looking out the window by the time Beatrix said the last. Beatrix saw a singularly tear trace down the Queen’s face.

“Will they take them? Your order?”

“Frisk has to be trained, yes, but it is up to their legal guardian who does that,” Beatrix said. Toriel took in a shuddering breath.

“We hurt them,” she said. “Just by being around us, it hurt them. How can we continue to be—“

“It would have happened regardless,” Beatrix said. Her voice was a knife that cut through Toriel’s sentence. It made a clear line in the conversation to separate that guilt from the truth. More gently Beatrix continued, “magic is all around us Toriel. It would have started clinging to them no matter what. It just wouldn’t have been from those that love them. Any they gathered from you when you felt love for them, Frisk felt that.”

“Then why did this happen?”

“It’s too much for a human body to contain magic. It made Frisk sick until it eventually demanded to be reunited with the stream. That’s why they seeked the Well. It promised to help them.”

“Would it have?”

“Yes. I just don’t know how. I don’t know if it would have let them go after.”

They sat, quietly, for a long time.

“It’s said the first mages were the ones that went into a well, and were let go again. That when the buildup was too much they went to be relieved of the burden. Something in each convinced whatever well they used to let them go. I don’t know what, but it did. But they were then bound to the flow of magic in the world. It was in their blood, and then their children’s blood, and their children’s and so on. Sometimes,” Beatrix took a breath here, and closed her eyes. “Sometimes when a mage married someone not bound to the magic, someone normal, the blood did not follow. Their children were no longer bound to the flow of magic.”

Toriel digested that, for a time. “Which is Frisk? Someone who entered a well to gain the spark of magic in their blood, or a child to one? Do they have parents out there looking for them?”

“I don’t know. I don’t know how to find out besides asking, but with Frisk now presented as a mage everyone will want to claim them. Having the ambassador to the monsters as an apprentice would raise the standing of any covenant that got them.”

“Wonderful that they will be joining yours then.” Both Beatrix and Toriel jumped, and looked to see Madeline in the doorway. “I’ve already spoken to the Grand Supreme,” she said, and came in to sit on Beatrix’s bed with her. “She is going to start, discreetly, trying to discover Frisk’s lineage. Until then she has determined you as her guardian, Your Majesty.”

“Does she have that power?”

“Frisk fell into the underground. A wanted child would not be allowed that sort of dangerous adventure away from fit parents, the Grand Supreme has determined. Until such time that the truth can come out she can’t help but to feel that you are the best choice for them. With Frisk being a mage it falls under her jurisdiction. And, with you being Frisk’s guardian you get to decide if they become an apprentice to the Ulex Covenant under the tutelage of Supreme Beatrix.”

Beatrix sagged back into her pillows in a daze. “It passed… I’m a supreme...”

“Will you take Frisk?” Toriel asked, and turned her full attention on Beatrix. Beatrix stared back at her. She wasn’t even sure she was going to be okay as a supreme. She had been so sure it wouldn’t pass that she wouldn’t have to worry about training apprentices. She wasn’t sure if she would be any good at it.

“I—ye—n—I want to talk to Frisk, first,” Beatrix finally stammered out. “I don’t know if they know what is going on, I want to make sure it’s okay with them, I don’t even know if they are okay!”

Madeline grabbed her hand to stop her outburst. “They are fine. I’ve tended to them. The Queen and I both explained things to them. Papyrus has not left their side.”

“But are they  _ okay? _ ”

Madeline considered the question, and then sighed. “No. They haven’t really talked to anyone but Papyrus. They’ve been avoiding most monsters. They actually haven’t even left your property. I’ve been having them tend to the chickens to help keep their mind off things for now.”

Toriel had tears in her eyes again. “I don’t know what to do.”

“I’ll talk to them,” Beatrix said, and, with a chest deep groan, got herself out of bed. It helped that she had two set of hands ready to support her should she go down.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Things are still going rough for me. I’ve typed this chapter and the next on my phone so if they are short that is why.
> 
> How is everyone? Good I hope?
> 
> Also, fun fact, the document name for this fic is Undertale FART NOISES because I felt I was being really self indulgent with this fic lol. But it’s actually gotten a lot more nuanced than I planned so yeah. Yo.
> 
> Also no betas we die like men but also HMU if you notice issues or maybe feel like you could beta?? I’ve only had one before and they were an irl friend so I’m nervous about asking for one I’ve never met. Thanks turn of the century internet safety paranoia.
> 
> Anyways enjoy~~
> 
> Also the person that said I knew it or whatever in the comments I see you and hope it was a validating chapter for you!!!


	15. Chapter 15

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> So I want it to be VERY CLEAR that there isn’t anything romantic between paps and frisk. They are two people that care deeply about each other and are best friends.
> 
> I wrote this and am worried that people will read this the wrong way. Because it is fan fiction and I feel like fan fiction often doesn’t portray super deep friendships with deep love for one another ever. That fics are always hyper focused on romantic stuff when there are pairings in it. That it always comes off as romantic. And these two are not and will never be like that in my fic.
> 
> Obviously this isn’t true for every fic, but a lot of them are here is the main couple also all the favs get an SO because we also love those guys and they deserve love yada yada. I’m sure you know what I’m talking about. I just want it to be completely clear without a doubt that this is some platonic shit right here. 
> 
> Does this make sense???

“Hey Kiddo,” Beatrix said, and basically fell down on the ground next to Frisk. The sun was delightful to feel, and a chicken instantly claimed a spot in Beatrix’s lap. Papyrus was not far off, but had given them a bit of space.

Frisk was, very carefully, dissecting a dandelion with their fingernails.

“You okay?” Beatrix asked. Frisk instantly burst into tears, and started signing so fast and shakily that Beatrix’s magically glasses couldn’t translate it. Beatrix also instantly felt a swell of miserable magic come from the kid.

“I’m right here,” Papyrus said. As soon as the first tear fell he had returned to Frisk’s side, and sat next to them. Frisk curled into his lap much like the chicken in Beatrix’s. Papyrus ran a hand over their hair repeatedly.

“It’s okay,” Beatrix said. After a moment she reached out, and gathered the bleed out magic coming from Frisk.

Fear, hatred, and misery.

“Look,” Beatrix said, gently, to the distraught child. She urged the magic she had collected into a ball. It shifted along green, red, and blue. It also wasn’t a perfect ball. It kept wanting to fall apart.

Frisk, with wide eyes, looked.

“You made it like this,” Beatrix said. “I can feel your emotional turmoil. It is changing the magic that gathered in you. We, you and I, are like sponges. We gather the energy around us. Too much, and it leaks out. If we don’t tend to it, it makes us moldy and gross. Here,” Beatrix said, and held the ball out to Frisk.

They flinched away so hard it made Papyrus shift. They signed wildly.

“Oh,” Papyrus said. Then, softer, “oh.”

“What?”

“The majority of the time Frisk has encountered magic coming from someone it was meant to hurt them,” Papyrus said. He had wrapped a shaking Frisk in his arms.

“Excuse me?”

“Maybe… maybe we should tell Beatrix about the Underground. At least a little bit,” Papyrus said. Frisk peaked up at him. “I’m right here Frisk.”

He was. Beatrix could almost  _ see  _ a wave of caring and loving magic pour from Papyrus, and instantly get sucked into Frisk. For a moment Frisk seemed to perk up before whatever was weighing on their mind altered the magic.

After a few, quiet moments, Frisk nodded. Papyrus unwrapped them just enough that they could sign. And they did despite their hands shaking.

Frisk told Beatrix about how nearly every one of the monsters Beatrix had met had originally attacked Frisk with magic. How, despite Frisk winning them all over, the attacks had happened. How they even had to fight the King to save the Underground despite not wanting to. Papyrus filled in some gaps about how monster battles worked.

“We never showed you, really, how encounters can also be used to talk,” Papyrus said to Frisk. “There was a little of it when we went on our date. It’s so normal to me that I didn’t consider this missing piece in your knowledge of how we interact. I should have—“ Frisk cut him off by holding his face. Papyrus smiles weakly at them, and, again, Beatrix saw the transfer of magic from him to them. “Encounters allow us to show some of our true selves.”

“Our souls,” Frisk signed. Their hands were reverent. Papyrus shot a look at Beatrix who had paled a little. His look said they’d discuss what had happened between them later.

Another gentle silence fell while Frisk kept taking in magic from Papyrus, perking, and then falling again.

“Frisk, let me help,” Beatrix said, and, slowly, held the magic she had been holding this whole time out to Frisk.

“May I?” Papyrus asked when Frisk hesitated.

“It is Frisk’s. If they are okay with it you can.”

Frisk nodded, and Papyrus reached out. He carefully brushed the magic with a hand, and tears instantly filled his eye sockets.

“Oh, Frisk,” he said, and tightened his hold on them. They were crying again. At his motion, Beatrix let the glob of magic shift to his hand.

From there, she watched.

Papyrus brought the magic close to a nervous Frisk. He took their hand, and slowly, brought it to the magic as well. Frisk allowed it even though they shook. “I see you,” Papyrus said when they touched the magic. “It’s okay,” he said, and curled, impossibly, tighter around Frisk. They were surrounded by a bony fortress that was wearing a crop top and gym shorts.

The magic ball became enclosed in both of their hands, and something silent passed between the two. Papyrus glowed, for a moment, blue. Frisk did as well, but as a, not as bright, red.

When they opened their hands the magic had turned into a butterfly. It was yellow and light. It fluttered to Beatrix who allowed it to alight onto her finger.

She was safe, and comforted, and warm, and loved, and understood, and accepted, and safe, and—

“Go to the Well,” Beatrix said, and blew on the butterfly. It immediately took flight. In a ponderous path it headed towards the forest passed the chicken coop.

Beatrix looked at Frisk and Papyrus. Both had relaxed, and Frisk looked lighter.

“Frisk, Papyrus,” she said. “Do you want to join the Ulex Covenant?”

Frisk smiled, looked at Papyrus, and they both nodded. 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Also sorry this is short. The next one feel super long because of it. Hope everyone is well love you all also thank you for the very thought provoking comments left by some people!!


	16. Chapter 16

“You need to talk to Frisk,” Beatrix said without preamble when Sans finally showed his face on her property again a little more than two weeks later. Well, show his face wasn’t correct. He had his hood back in place to hide the huge crack in his skull.

“don’t see what that will do,” he said after watching her spread food out for the chickens’ evening meal. She saw him dig at the ground with his foot. 

“They think you hate them,” Beatrix said. In the past few weeks she had spent all of her time training with Frisk and Papyrus to start getting Frisk the skills to purge their own magic. It was tough going. Despite the child having spoken with a number of their monster friends, and being reassured no one was mad at them, they still had worryingly volatile magic. Almost all that came from them had to be bottled to be sorted through later.

Papyrus had been able to help them a great deal though. Beatrix was half a mind to apply to research the phenomenon officially. She had always worried what human magic could do to a monster because of the inherent difference she had seen between them. Human will imposed on magic, and she had explained to the pair, was different from what she had seen monsters do. Papyrus has confirmed this by talking about how monsters tended to gravitate towards a specific type of magic, and go with that. By the time they were ‘adults’ their magic was set to a specific sort despite how varying it could be as children. Very rarely it could change, but only from often dire circumstances.

Meanwhile human magic was much more fluid. Hypothetically, with enough will and magic to power a spell, a mage could do anything. The only clear thing that seemed impossible was to bring someone back from the dead. The corpse could be animated, as macabre as that was, but whatever made the former person who they were was beyond the grasp of magic. Of course the kind of focus required to do some of the more impressive things was hard to come by. Very few witches could do veritable acts of god. Which is also where monsters had the upper hand. Magic came naturally to them according to Papyrus. They didn’t possess the will, or determination, to control magic. It just happened. They could perform incredibly complex patterns in their encounters that would be far beyond the abilities of nearly all mages. He tried to explain to her that it was a type of language, but also said it would be easier to show her than explain it in words. She would need to take him up on that offer at some point.

It was fascinating, and not what Beatrix needed to be considering right now.

“Papyrus, and Frisk, told me a bit of the Underground. You were one of the only monsters that didn’t attack Frisk. You looked out for them. And you’ve left them high and dry now. They are torn up about it,” Beatrix said, and saw him flinch.

“i didn’t expect them to be….”

“A mage? Can’t believe you are surprised it was  _ so  _ obvious to the rest of us,” Beatrix said, and finally faced him fully. She had her hands on her hips. He flinched at her sudden move, and she softened herself a little. “Look. I don’t know what your history with this is. That’s your baggage. But you are making my apprentice carry it. They are still Frisk. They are just now very upset..”

“what if they turn bad?” Sans asked, and his voice was very small. This too gave Beatrix pause.

“Then they are my responsibility,” she said at length. “But have they ever given you the feeling they would be?”

This seemed to make him even more uncomfortable, and he didn’t answer.

Beatrix sighed. “Look, tonight is the full moon, and Frisk and Paps will be here for the final step of the jars. Why not tag along? Maybe, I don’t know, exposure to it will help. At the very least it will show Frisk you are still with them.”

Sans didn’t answer right away, and she could see he was staring at the chickens around her feet.

“you touched paps’ soul,” he said.

Beatrix remained silent. She and Papyrus had yet been able to talk about it. She had mentioned it to Toriel because she herself was still very confused as to what happened. However Toriel immediately shut the conversation down, and told Beatrix that was between her and Papyrus. From how Toriel has blushed and spluttered at the topic Beatrix hadn’t been too insistent on the talk with Papyrus either. 

“well?”

“I’m not sure what to say to that,” she finally admitted. “I don’t really understand it. We haven’t talked yet with Frisk so dependent on his presence. I get the feeling it is a personal thing.”

“that’s an understatement,” Sans said, and there was a hint of amusement to his voice. “it’s upsetting him.”

“What? That it happened? I didn’t know he was upset. What did—“

“no that you haven’t talked,” Sans said to cut off her impending panic. “he’s good at hiding it so i’m not surprised you didn’t notice. but he is stressing that you haven’t talked.”

“Shit,” Beatrix said quite eloquently about the situation. Sans chuckled a little.

“that’s why i’m even here. I was coming to make you talk to him, but then here you are trying to make me talk to the kid.”

“Will you?”

“will you?” he countered, and she chuckled too.

“How’s this: come to the Moonforge with us for the bottles. Frisk can tell you about the process, and you guys talk. While you’ve got an eye on them I talk to Papyrus.”

Sans looked down at his slippers for a while before nodding. “deal.”

“We need to shake on it?” She asked. It was teasing, but his eye seemed to light up at the idea.

“yeah,” he said, and came closer. Beatrix mentally shrugged, and reached her hand out in time with his.

An incredibly loud, artificial fart trumpeted out as soon as they grasped hands. It completely distracted Beatrix from the rough warmth of his bones because she instantly burst out laughing. A beat later he did too.

Probably because of the hectic nature of the last month the laughter was borderline hysterical. It almost brought tears to her eyes.

“SANS!” Papyrus’s scandalized voice rang out just moments later, and caused Beatrix to laugh even harder. Tears  _ were _ in her eyes now, and Sans was even leaning into her for support as he laughed too.

It seemed he didn’t want the laughter to end either. The moment Beatrix almost composed herself he would squeeze the whoopi cushion again, and just set the whole thing off again.

It felt really, really good to laugh. It seemed like he shared the sentiment.

She saw delighted magic lift from him, and pass into her. It filled her with a strange sensation from him. It was happiness that felt almost desperate.

That was what finally snapped her out of it, and really look at him. Whatever was going on in him was strong enough for her to feel it. She hasn’t felt altered magic directly from anyone before despite seeing the transfer between Papyrus and Frisk multiple times.

It felt invasive so she quickly bundled that magic away in her mind to be dealt with later.

“I hope we are not too late,” Papyrus said. Then he added with a huff, “or interrupting anything.”

Frisk was holding onto his leg, and not really looking their way.

“nah right on time paps. i was just making a deal with the warden so i can tag along in your magical chores,” Sans said. There was forced lightness in his voice that Beatrix was sure she only noticed because he tensed before he stopped using her as support. “if that’s okay with you, kiddo.”

Frisk snapped their head up into his direction. Their hold on Papyrus’s leg tightened before they gestured for Sans to lower his hood.

“aw kid,” he said, and Beatrix heard him hiss in a breath through his teeth. Frisk made the gesture again, but more insistent. Sans sighed, and reached up to lower his hood.

“I’ll go get what we need ready, “ Beatrix blurted out before he could lower it. This too felt invasive, and personal. Yeah she had seen his face, but not on purpose. This seemed way too heavy to be part of.

“I can help,” Papyrus said, and looked to make sure it was okay with his charge. Frisk, after a moment nodded.

Beatrix shared a look with Sans even though his face was still shadowed. He nodded too.

“Sounds great Paps,” Beatrix said. Now was a good time as any to talk to the taller skeleton brother.

The two of them left the others to their own, and headed towards Beatrix’s shed.

“I’m going to have to tend to the Well first, but you two know the way to the Moonforge so I will meet you there,” she said as they walked. “You can get yourselves ready while I do that.”

“Sounds good,” Papyrus said. Beatrix wondered if he was as calm as he sounded. They let silence sit between them while they loaded up the wagon attached to the ATV.

“I’m sorry,” Beatrix blurted when she couldn’t take the silence anymore. “I’m not sure what I did, or what it means, but Toriel acted really weird about it, and Sans mentioned you were upset and—“

“No, I’m sorry,” Papyrus said. He looked as distressed as she felt. “I should have talked to you right away, but with everything—“

“Are you okay?” they asked each other at the same time. It, despite everything, made them smile at each other.

“So what actually happened? What does it mean, culturally, for you?” Beatrix asked as she loaded a bag of corks into the wagon.

“We touched each other’s souls,” Papyrus said. He rubbed the back of his neck vertebrae. “It’s a… private thing that we don’t do often. It happens most between married couples, but even then it is rare.”

“Is it,” Beatrix looked around, and dropped her voice, “a sex thing?”

Papyrus’s whole face lit up orange. “No! No not necessarily. Not… like how we did it.” He cleared his throat, and gathered himself. “Monster sex is a physical thing. This means different stuff for different monsters because of physical differences. However, to make a baby a spark of magic must come from souls connecting. It has to be really wanted by the parents. We consider the two things incredibly different though. One act does not require the other for a child to happen. And a child cannot happen accidentally through, um, physical intercourse. But no it is not an inherently sexual thing. Parents sometimes feel a child’s soul, and vice versa, or siblings might as well. It helps ground someone, and reorient themselves with whoever they are sharing with. It’s not taboo to do or talk about. It’s just… private, so us monsters don’t really talk about it in public.”

“Could… we have…a kid?”

“No no goodness no,” Papyrus said. His blush returned violently. “It would have to specifically be the souls themselves touching, and with that clear intent present. What we did was… well the soul is the very… soul of someone,” he said, and winced at himself. “We could see the true nature of each other through it. We could also have seen each other’s flaws and deepest fears. And the like. It’s a big act of trust too. You could really hurt someone when you hold their soul,” at her stricken look he quickly added “your hold was very gentle.”

“I saw you as a kid,” Beatrix said once she decided to believe his assurance. “I felt… an incredible sense of… rightness from you. It was like I knew without a doubt you’d do whatever is right no matter what, but with an unending amount of kindness behind it,” she said. They weren’t looking at each other now. “Can I ask what you saw?”

“I saw,” Papyrus said, and let out a slow breath. “I saw you standing by a gravestone in a black dress. You were younger than you are now, but not a child.”

Beatrix closed her eyes. “Did the… did the gravestone say anything?”

She heard Papyrus shuffle. “Arthur Green.” Despite being sure that answer was coming it hit Beatrix like a sack of bricks. Even so, she made sure not to show it. “Who was that?”

“My father,” she said when she was sure her voice wouldn’t give her away. She was already soothing the magic in her so as not to have it escape upset. “He died in a car accident when I was 16.”

“I’m so sorry,” Papyrus said, and put a hand on her shoulder. “I don’t know if this is any consolation, but I felt an enormous sense of perseverance in you. I mean it is obvious looking at you, and knowing your accomplishments despite your hardships; touching your soul was something else. It was like an ocean of it.”

The awe in his voice made her smile. She had felt much the same way when feeling the depth of the integrity of him when she touched his soul.

“So… which one of us caused that giant skull?”

“I don’t know,” Papyrus said with a laugh. “My brother can do those easy. He calls them Gaster Blasters. Says it is a special magic only the two of us can do, but I never could. So I want to say me, but,” he shrugged.

“I don’t know if it was me either. I just… felt the conviction of your soul, and just… channeled magic through it. I didn’t think of a specific thing except that I wanted us to get somewhere safe.”

“Maybe, then, it was a little bit of the both of us? You provided the framework, and I provided the finer details?”

“Maybe,” she said. “I am wondering if I should study this sort of thing? I see it between you and Frisk constantly. They draw the magic, and you help their focus to shape it. It is extraordinary.”

“It might be worth it to do some work on it,” Papyrus agreed. “I’ve never really done magic like the kind I do with Frisk. But it feels right to help them. They are my best friend,” he said, and he was smiling so genuinely it almost hurt Beatrix’s heart to look at.

They finished packing up the wagon, and turned to see where the other two were at. Sans, and Frisk didn’t seem entirely comfortable with each other based on their posture. They were standing closer to each other than they had been with they had left them though. 

“Hey, I’m sorry I touched your soul without asking Papyrus,” she said, and looked up at him. He was smiling back at her.

“And I yours. But, I also don’t regret it.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Thank you for the questions and comments in the comments. Especially the questions which I hope are answered largely here.
> 
> I also want to say that I got a LOT of inspiration for this from These are Our Days fic. I forget the author, but it is REALLY good and REALLY long if ya'll want a rec. How souls work in this is largely influenced by that fic.
> 
> I also want it to be clear that soul touch could be considered like... kissing maybe? like it is something you can do to anyone but it means different things for different circumstances??? like it is a very intimate thing but not only a sexually intimate one
> 
> hope you enjoyed!


	17. Chapter 17

The Moonforge is, shockingly enough, a forge powered by the moon.

The forge rested to the east of the Well in the center of a clearing that was completely paved with dark stone. There was a stone wall circle, hip high to Beatrix, that enclosed the forge in its hold. The forge itself was made of a dark, fire brick that was also inlaid with selenite, labradorite, opal, and, naturally, moonstone. It was large enough that, should Frisk feel the foolish urge to do so, they could climb into the entrance of the forge and stand quite comfortably inside. There was a large conglomerate of stones on the very top of the forge that glowed under the light of the full moon. To the north of the circle was a workshop which was also made of stone. It was in front of its door that Beatrix found the trio waiting for her.

“How’s the Well?” Frisk signed, their motions clunky due to the thick gloves they had on. They and Papyrus were already in the equally thick jumpsuits she made for them, and had their protective goggles on their heads.

“Nice and stable. Nothing to really mention, which is how I like it. We all set?” She asked while pulling on her own suit, gloves, and goggles.

“for what?” Sans asked. His hood was back in place.

“I thought you guys would have told him,” Beatrix said, but shrugged anyways. “Over the course of the last moon cycle. Frisk has been in the process of making their own magic jars. On the new moon we pick the colors and materials we are going to use. Over the course of the cycle we choose sizes, shapes, and start prepping the molds. Yesterday we had to fill them with the glass we picked. Tonight we are putting the molds in the forge and firing them. We get to open them tomorrow night, and see how they turned out.”

“I picked red, and orange, and yellow, and—“

“It would be faster to list what you didn’t pick!” Papyrus said, and laughed.

Frisk squinted in thought for a beat. “I didn’t put any clear glass in it.”

“course not.”

“Can you help me carry these? Sans, can you help Frisk?” Beatrix asked. Papyrus nodded and stepped up to help Beatrix lift one of two of the large bottle molds. She would have to make even more after this to replace the ones she used for the Well’s rising a few weeks before. She wasn’t sure when the magic in those would calm enough for her to release and get the jars back. That amount of magic tended to take years to heal, and was hell on the jars. It was lucky when one was able to get three or four uses out of them.

Beatrix and Papyrus brought the first of the two big molds to the forge. From there Beatrix climbed inside the forge. Once able, Papyrus followed her. They moved the mold to the back and set it down. 

“Who helped you before we got here?” Frisk asked.

“Madeline and Frank mostly. I don’t need help unless it is these big ones, so even then they didn’t have to very often. Before that, I helped my mother,” Beatrix said. The memory of being in Frisk’s shoes while her mother taught her the ins and outs of jar making made her chest ache. It confused her that it wasn’t completely a bad sort. She tended to hurt when she had to do stuff like this that she has once needed to help her mother with.

“Time for the other one?” Papyrus asked

“Yeah. Frisk, go ahead and grab your first when we get this one in. Sans, just make sure they don’t drop it or trip on anything. If it gets spilled now we have to start all over again the next new moon.”

“why?”

“Full moon’s for finishing. New is for starting.” Frisk said. They had a look so serious on their face Beatrix couldn’t help but laugh.

“I don’t look like that when I say it!”

“A little,” Frisk said with a shrug before picking up the first of their molds. Sans pulled out his phone, and used the flashlight on it to light Frisk’s way while Beatrix and Papyrus moved the second one into the forge. From there, they helped Frisk get all of their five molds in place, then Beatrix closed up the front door.

“Goggles on,” Beatrix said. She had handed Sans a pair at some point, but she sent him a fair bit back with the ATV because of the heat the forge would give off. Papyrus and Frisk were already outside the ring of stone. They all made sure to cover their eyes and the skin (or bone) of their face properly to protect from the heat that was going to come.

Beatrix pulled out a black glass jar from the workshop that had a ball of magic in it. This magic was pastel blue, but warm even with Beatrix’s gloves in place. Even with the goggles on it was bright.

Beatrix opened the jar once she was in front of the forge again; the air crackled with heat immediately. She pulled a glass wand from her pocket, and dipped it into the magic. She then used it to draw some runes onto a circular, flat portion on the door of the forge. The runes were a circle with a line going down from it to a half circle. The gems atop the forge started to glow brighter. From the top down, the other stones in the forge began to glow as well. She then replaced the lid on the jar of magic, and returned the jar in the workshop.

“Time to back up,” she said, voice muffled, as she joined the two by the wall. They followed her to where Sans was waiting. “You can take the face covers off, but keep your goggles on,” she said. She pulled out some foldable chairs she had loaded into the wagon of the ATV before she had left her house, and passed them out. “I’ve got some egg salad sandwiches.”

“I want one!” Frisk said. Beatrix passed the sandwiches and bottles of water around. “So, the forge is going to warm up to a certain temperature for ten minutes, then to another for another ten, and then an even higher one for an hour.  _ Then  _ we have to let it cool to a certain temperature for fifteen minutes before lowering it one more time. From there, we let it cool naturally for the rest of the night. We will be able to open it back up again tomorrow. The process is automated. We just have to make sure it does what it is supposed to till it gets back down to its last temperature.”

“We should tell ghost stories,” Frisk signed as best they could with their one free hand, as they ate their sandwich with the other.

“About Napstablook? We could have just invited him,” Papyrus said, and the others laughed.

“I brought some cards. We can play go fish,” Beatrix said. No one objected, so she dealt them out as they settled in to wait for a couple hours.

By the time the forge was in its last stage Frisk was fast asleep. Papyrus and Sans (the former much more than the latter) helped her pack the things back up.

“We’ll be back tomorrow to open them,” Papyrus said, and picked Frisk up. The child made a grumpy sound, but didn’t wake up.

“How’d your talk go?” Beatrix asked Sans as he helped her get the last two chairs into the wagon. He shrugged a little.

“they aren’t thrilled with me, and said i have to start coming to magic practice, but they understood where i was at. you?”

“About as awkward as I thought it was going to be. I learned a lot more about how monster babies happen than I thought I was ever going to.” Sans snorted at her. “But we are good. I might apply to start research on human monster interactions. Papyrus said that Gaster Blaster, or whatever it was, wasn’t all him. It wasn’t all me either. I didn’t even know that thing could be a thing. And he helps Frisk so much with other things. I don’t know, seems worth exploring. What? I would ask them first. Just not tonight.”

Sans' tense form didn’t relax, and he shuffled awkwardly. “i think you should talk to asgore and toriel as well before doing anything about it.”

“Is it some taboo?”

“not...exactly. it’s a touchy subject,” he said. Papyrus cleared his throat from where he had been waiting for them to finish their quiet conversation. “just talk to them first, okay?”

“Yeah, sure,” Beatrix said, and followed him back to Papyrus. She could feel Sans starting to build magic up in himself. “Goodnight guys.”

“Goodnight, sleep tight, don’t let the bedbugs bite,” Papyrus sung. However it got a little muddled at the end with him yawning.

“let’s get you kids to bed,” Sans said with a chuckle. Papyrus scoffed. It was ruined by another yawn. Sans took his brother’s hand. They waved, and were gone.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I'm sorry this took so long! Life is hard, and I am very busy!
> 
> Glass is technically done in a kiln, but Moonforge sounded cooler than Moonkiln. Plus, and I don't know if it will get worked in to this, but her tools used a few chapters back would have been made at the forge. The crook and scythe.
> 
> I looked up what medieval forges were made out of, how glass bottles are made, and stones associated with the moon. And meaning of various moon stages.
> 
> Also Erevast is now my beta which is very exciting! Thank you Erevast for betaing!


	18. Chapter 18

“What do you see when you look at Frisk?” Beatrix asked Papyrus. Frisk was currently running around with Lesser Dog, Monster Kid, and Emily. Frank and Linda were keeping an eye on them. The chickens were displeased. Papyrus and Beatrix could see it all from the kitchen window.

“What do you mean?”

“Like… I don’t know, do you get a sensation from them?”

Papyrus rubbed his head, and thought about it. “Yeah. They are red and I hear them laughing. Even though they can’t. But I know it’s them. Why?”

“I spoke with Toriel and the King about studying how you two work so well together. Sans, can you see anything?”

“nah. ain’t looked real hard though,” he said from where he wasn’t helping prep lunch at her table.

“I don’t really mean to look. Just happens,” Papyrus said with a shrug. “What did they say?”

“They said the closer two monsters are to each other the easier they can identify each other’s souls. See the nature of them, or something like that. I couldn’t really understand it.”

“Oh! Yeah, I can see Sans perfectly. Well, see isn’t the right word. When I look at him I smell ketchup,” Papyrus said, and looked at his brother. The two got soft looks on their faces. “I smell ketchup, and I hear one of his foolish puns.”

“aw paps, you understand my true nature,” Sans said.

“Can Frisk see either of you? Or.. hear.. Or…?”

“we use see in a more metaphorical way. not just the physical seeing, but the metaphysical understanding. and no clue, never asked.”

“Did the King and Queen give you permission?” Papyrus asked. He was expertly cutting up some veggies for the guests while Beatrix prepared hot chocolate (as well as something dog friendly for Lesser Dog).

The conversation with the ruling monsters had been unexpectedly tense.

“Why do you want to know about that?” the King had demanded with uncharacteristic hardness in his eyes. It had completely floored Beatrix to see both of them acting so official after she had finished asking to study the phenomenon.

“Papyrus is unconsciously helping Frisk master magic basics. Or, he was doing it unconsciously. When I pointed it out he tried to reign it in, but it still happens. It’s like his natural magic reaches out to guide their’s. I figured with the more humans and monsters are bound to interact in the future the more important to understand why this happens will be.”

The two royals had looked at each other, and something had passed between them. Then they had told her a story about how monsters can fuse souls with a humans’ to give them unbelievable power.

“Our main concern is that not happening.”

“Did it happen a lot?”

“No. Just once that we know of,” Toriel had said. Beatrix had noticed her hand shake when she next reached for her tea.

“I can leave it alone if it’s a taboo—”

“No,” the King had said. “It is important to understand more fully. In this one case the human involved had passed before the soul melding happened. Monsters all know about it, but it would be good to know if it could be done otherwise, or if this mingling that happens between Papyrus and Frisk is dangerous in any way. But we do want to see everything you find out… before your Grand Supreme. We can’t let it out that monsters can use human souls to become more powerful. It would cause fear where none would be needed.”

It had been Beatrix’s turn to be uncomfortable. She only wrestled with it for a moment before giving her word.

“They gave me permission. I am waiting for an answer by my Grand Supreme now. I should know within the next week or two.”

“What will you be asking of us?”

“Nothing yet. I just want to start writing down observations. I don’t want to have you start doing magic together until Frisk has more control over it. Spell casting for humans can be dangerous, even when properly trained. Sans are you--oh.”

Sans had finished making the sandwiches she had set him to work on in record time.

The three of them joined the rest of the guests outside. Beatrix made sure to give Lesser Dog his special cup. She had learned that food dangerous to regular dogs wasn’t deadly to monster ones, but it still made them feel sick. “How the translator?”

“Really good! If you are ready to start making more I have a list of monsters interested in getting them.”

“I can do that. Maybe it is something Frisk can help with. It’s been long enough that I think if there were going to be any issues it would have happened by now. It is simple enough that it would be a good starter for you, Frisk.”

Frisk gave a one handed affirmative because their other was being held by Emily. Soon both were busy as they got their drink and a sandwich.

“The mayor is out of town again,” Linda said when the adults had all sat at one of her picnic tables together. There was already a blanket laid out for the kids. Lesser Dog opted to sit with them.

“He’s been doing that an awful lot lately. Any idea where?”

“No clue. I think he might be trying to use up the rest of his vacation time. He isn’t sure he will be getting re-elected since he’s not in your good graces anymore.”

“Maybe I should run,” Frank said. Linda laughed, and he laughed with her. “No, you should run.”

“Me? Heavens no. I don’t have enough time with Emily as it is.”

“Any ideas on who will?”

“Can’t you?” Papyrus asked.

“No. I am not allowed to hold non-mage positions in government. Or, well, if I wanted to, I would have to wear a magic suppression device for the duration of my term. A few mages have held government positions but they have traditionally gone poorly. Non-magic people are always suspicious of their motives for getting into politics. I think there was only one successful mage that was a very small town mayor like 50 years ago, and they ended up getting shot despite being mostly liked.”

“bummer,” Sans said.

“Bummer,” Frank agreed.

“No I don’t have any ideas on who will run,” Linda said.

“I still think you should think about it,” Frank said.

“I don’t want to pay for childcare,” Linda said with a sigh.

“Ah, I will watch her,” Frank said. “She loves me.”

“She does,” Linda agreed, and she was smiling. Beatrix couldn’t help but smile as well.

“She visit you a lot Frank?”

“Yeah, they are over all the time,” Frank said. Linda blushed.

“Hush you two,” she said.

“Oh! You are dating! I should show you my manual,” Papyrus said to Frank.

“Your… excuse me?”

“My date manual! Guaranteed to make a date go well. I will drop it off next time I am around the town hall.”

“No, that’s okay it’s—”

“It’s no problem in the least, I assure you. I will make sure your dates succeeded without question.”

“don’t think human dates work the same bro,” Sans said. He looked moments away from a nap.

“Nonsense! All dating uses the same principals.”

“You will just have to accept his tutelage Frank,” Beatrix said. Linda was an incredible shade of red at this point.

“Thank you for speaking sense Beatrix. Besides it is what friends are for,” he said, and, seemingly unable to contain himself, started lecturing the two on the finer points of dating. There was a lot he mentioned that made no sense (dating interface?), but wearing a special outfit and trying to woo each other all seemed to make sense.

“are human dates really different?” Sans asked.

“From what I can tell,” Beatrix said. They were on the same side of the table, and watching the day’s entertainment unfold. “We don’t have encounters to date. Encounters here being like fights right?” Sans nodded. “Yeah, we don’t have that. I don’t think we even fight the same way either.”

“i can show you some time,” Sans said.

“Wouldn’t that be dangerous?”

“nah, not if you do it right.”

“You are talking about fighting right? Because that sounds like an innuendo,” she said, and he chuckled.

“yeah, the fighting. what do humans do on dates?”

“Haven’t been on one. But stuff they like to do, but together I guess? Going to see a movie, going out to eat, going to do an activity I guess. Depends on the people I guess. I’m sure with the right person going grocery shopping could be as good as a five star restaurant.”

“sounds like hanging out.”

“It is in a lot of ways. Just… different. More of a gut feeling I think. Butterflies in your stomach or whatever.”

“thankfully we don’t do it that way. they would fly right outta me.”

Beatrix blinked at him, then snorted. “Not real butterflies bonehead. I meant nervous, but good nervous.”

“must be some human affliction if you get bugs over being nervous.”

“We don’t get bugs!”

“methinks you doth protest too much,” he said, and seemed to be put at ease by her laughter. She could feel his smile even if she couldn’t see it in the dark of his hood.

“What do monsters do then, when they get nervous? What do you call it?”

“depends on the monster. paps and i get floaty. we have a lot to do with gravitational magic, and, when we get super nervous in a good way we can have it mess with us on accident. we get light. undyne breaks things.”

“I would prefer that to feeling sick. The floating, that is.”

“i can show you that some time too,” Sans said. Again she could feel his smile.

“I think I would like that.”


	19. Chapter 19

Beatrix was surprised the next day when instead of Sans apperating Papyrus, Frisk, and himself to her home a red sports car showed up. It looked like a convertible, but the top was up thanks to the cold rain outside. It only took a moment for her to realize it was Papyrus’s car considering she could see him through the windshield.. That, or he had no qualms about grand theft auto.

Beatrix was further surprised from where she watched at her kitchen window as a tall blue monster got out of the vehicle with the other two. She set aside her freshly washed plate from her breakfast, and went to greet Frisk at the door.

“Hello!” she said when they flung the door open before she got to it. “Wow slow down. Muddy boots stay by the door kiddo.”

“Sorry!” Frisk had a mischievous look on their face. “Undyne is with us today!”

“Goodmorning. My brother, uncharacteristically volunteered for a special task from Her Majesty. So he isn’t here.”

“He just didn’t want to come see his girlfriend,” the tall, blue monster said as she came in from the rain. Unlike the other two she didn’t wear anything to keep the rain off of her. Even so it did little to dampen her voluminous red ponytail.

“His wha--”

“You don’t look that intimidating,” Undyne said, and looked her up and down with pursed lips. “But he seemed all bent outta shape about coming today. Said he had an embarrassing conversation with you or something.”

“He told you about floating,” Frisk agreed. The two of them looked like cats that had gotten into cream.

“Hey, we promised him we wouldn’t make fun,” Papyrus said, and wrung his hands together.

“No, you promised you wouldn’t make fun. I did absolutely no such thing. Again, and I cannot stress this enough, you do not look that intimidating at all. And you’re supposed to be some sorta strong ass magician or something too?”

“Undyne!” Papyrus said sharply enough that she straightened in shock. “Do not use that kind of language around Frisk.”

“Eh it doesn’t hurt them at all.”

“The Queen herself asked you to not swear in their presence. I will report you.”

“You wouldn’t dare.” Undyne and Papyrus glared at each other for a few tense moments. “Tch,” she eventually said, and looked away in forced casualness.

“What are we learning today?” Frisk signed when no one else filled the silence.

“Today I am going to show you a couple of spellbooks that belong to my ancestors. Then we are going to work on some of those translators that Lesser Dog has. Please hang up your wet coats, and dry yourself if you need to. The books are delicate, and if you aren’t dry you can’t look at them.”

The three of them more or less did as she asked. Papyrus had the most enthusiasm. Undyne had the less.

While they did that Beatrix moved the coffee table in her living room, and then rolled aside the carpet that was under it. There was a trap door sealed with protection wards underneath it.

“Secret door!” Frisk signed with huge motions to show their excitement. Beatrix laughed, and gestured for them to join her.

“Here is the lock for the room,” she said, and tapped a thumbprint sized circle in the ward markings. The circle was darker than the surrounding wood.

“Where is the key then?” Undyne asked with a snort.

“Right here,” Beatrix replied, and pulled a pin from her pincushion she had at the ready. She swiftly pricked her thumb, squeezed the digit till a drop welled up, and pressed the drop into the circle. The trap door popped open with a hiss of air rushing forwards. “Our spellbooks, grimoires, things like that are stored here. That is, the books from my bloodline are. Also some equipment from past experiments, and some glass jars of magic that might never be ready to be released.” As she spoke a slab of stone rose up from the floor as a magical elevator. “There are wards in place to keep the room dust free, and at the perfect temperature for the tombs. Then I lock it back up which also vacuums out the air, and creates an airtight seal to further assist in preserving what’s inside.”

While she spoke she stepped onto the slab, and gestured for the others to join her. When they did she sent her will into the stone, and it lowered. It moved so smoothly that only the fact the floor rose up around them clued them into the fact they were moving. When they got to the bottom the slab settled seamlessly back into the floor.

“Tch, dramatic,” Undyne grumbled. Beatrix scowled, but didn’t feel the need to reply. The room was made of stone walls, and each wall was lined along edges with the wards she had described. One wall was a large bookshelf nearly full of books of all shapes, sizes, and colors. The ones in the upper left hand side looked older than those at the bottom right hand.

The opposite wall was glass cabinets full of various items for different experiments for a variety of magical disciplines. The other two walls were full of pictures. Some were paintings, and some were photographs. All were related to her in some way, shape, or form. Beatrix let them know as much. She didn’t mention anything about the one frame that was leaning against the bottom of the wall so one could not see. There were also several closed up cardboard boxes near it. She also did not mention those either. In the center of a room was a worn, but solid looking table. The perfect number of cushioned stools were present for each of them.

“I have my own research to do to see if one of the early founders of my bloodline have done any sort of studies like what I will be doing on you two now that I have all the needed permissions. I have a couple of tombs for you two to look at to introduce a little of what we keep tombs for. I haven’t started my own yet, though typically a mage will start keeping one as soon as they get their title. Some have started earlier. Some start later. The ones I am going to pull for you also will have some of the principles we have gone over, and will be working on today. Sound good?”

“Yes,” Papyrus said, while Frisk nodded. Both took a chair. Undyne shrugged, could not look less interested, and joined them. Beatrix made her way over to the bookshelf while they got settled.

Her eyes purposely skipped over the newest books. It made her shoulders tense to do so, but made her even more tense to consider pulling any of them off the shelf.

They were her mother’s. She didn’t even really like being in the room with them.

Beatrix took a slow breath, and closed her eyes. Her hands shook briefly when her traitorous brain brought up the image of glass on wet pavement at night, and the sound of the back screen door opening and closing also on a wet night.

“Beatrix?” Papyrus asked when she hadn’t moved for a few minutes. Beatrix shook herself. She grabbed a couple of well weathered books she remembered from her own training. She also grabbed some others for herself one shelf down from the top, and not quite from the middle. She brought them, and a pad of paper with a pen, over to the table.

“Here, these are for you to look at Frisk. Start with this one, at the beginning. That was the first of my line to bother writing down some of the theories, and procedures. It had all been taught orally until that point. Whoever was in charge of training then, however, was really old so their apprentice made it a point to write down these things so they would not get lost. It had happened before to other bloodlines.”

“Why wasn’t there anyone else that would have been able to teach anyone? Seems dumb,” Undyne said. She had picked up one of the books, and was flipping through it.

“Be gentle with that,” Beatrix said sharply.

“What is this the only copy or something? That also seems dumb.”

“It isn’t, but it has sentimental value. Our national covenant has copies in their own library. But the copy of that was made by someone else. Nowadays we have a spell we put on our books that links to copies in the National Library, one for every covenant possibly, that writes in themselves with one’s exact handwriting as they write it. The National Librarians review it, forwards anything questionable to the Grand Supreme to see if it should be public knowledge, and then pass out reviewed books if deemed appropriate. Otherwise they keep the copies at the National Library for any covenant to request if they need the research.”

“Would the National Library have anything that would help you?” Frisk asked. Beatrix shook her head.

“If they did we wouldn’t have been so shocked about the monsters emerging.”

“Laaaame,” Undyne said. She closed the book and set it on the table (though considerably much more gently than before). “Why are you even bothering to look at these books then if this super special library has all of them already?”

“You can always go upstairs to read something else, or watch television,” Beatrix said as she opened up the first of her chosen tomes. Undyne, she had decided, was a bit too loud for the underground room. “And these books might not be in the National Library. These were written before the library was established. Of course all the covenants were required to hand a copy of theirs over to the library when it was made, but that didn’t mean that they all were. Or that all the information in them was. It doesn’t hurt to check this first. It might give me a starting point I wasn’t expecting which would be something. Not that I couldn’t do my research without one. Just interested in seeing if someone had seen something like this before with any two species.”

Even as Beatrix started reading her first book she tried to convince herself it was worth it. The writer for the first book hadn’t had the best handwriting. It was going to take...time to sort through all this information.

She settled herself in more comfortably; best to get started with it then.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Can I get a uuuuuuuuh illness relief?
> 
> Sorry all for that SADs going on real bad and between work and necessary adult duties I haven’t been able to get words flowing. This and the last chapter really fought me. I still feel sans was ooc in the last for what I am setting him up to be. But it just needed to get posted.
> 
> Please continue to leave such wonderful comments. That sweet sweet validation really helps.


	20. Chapter 20

When Beatrix hadn’t seen Sans for almost a month she was sure she had done something to offend him greatly. It was well into fall now, and the town was going to be celebrating Halloween next week. The children all over were more excited than ever. The monsters had announced they would be setting up a haunted house with an actual ghost present, and people were losing their minds.

Still, Beatrix worried that she had broken...whatever kind of truce she and the hooded monster had come too with her casual talk of their differences. Every time Papyrus and Frisk had come over since then they had brought along Undyne. Beatrix was getting used to her. She wasn’t sure she would ever really like the fish monster, but she was coming to tolerate her. Undyne however kept swinging wildly between looking like a cat with cream over the whole situation, and being pissed for having to perform ‘babysitting’ duty. Papyrus continued to explain that Sans was off on special tasks from the royals, but the lingering doubt remained for Beatrix.

Still, she was hopeful every time she went to the door for guest that it would be him, and she could apologize. She had gotten good at ignoring the fact he never came by car.

“Madeline!” Beatrix said when she opened the door. The older woman laughed at the shocked look on Beatrix’s face.

“Hello dear, I came for a visit,” she said as Beatrix welcomed her in. Madeline took off her coat, and hung it up on a nearby coat rack.

“I haven’t seen you in, like, forever,” Beatrix said, and lead her into the living room. “Tea?”

“Of course. And I feel the same,” she said with a laugh. “We have both been so busy. Tell me about your research while the pot heats.”

Beatrix hummed in agreement, set the kettle on, and joined Madeline back in the living room. She proceeded to tell her about how her research had been going thus far with only a brief break to make the tea.

She had found in one of the older tomes instances of two mages melding their magic sort of like how Frisk and Papyrus did. It was a lot less refined, and didn’t seem subconscious like Papyrus's magical guidance was. Since then Beatrix had made some simple training exercises for the two to see what their magic could do together. As such Frisk was flying through starter tasks. Already they had helped Beatrix make a number of the translation amulets for non-verbal monsters.

Beatrix told Madeline about how it was now working in reverse. Papyrus had a lot harder time with forcing his will into the charms, and Frisk’s magic had automatically jumped to assist him without them even knowing. When Beatrix had pointed it out she had the two work more closely together; moreover the strength of their charms surpassed her own.

“Extraordinary. Have you considered what you are going to call this phenomenon?”

“Soul Calling,” Beatrix said after a pause. “The monsters say their magical use stems from their souls. I’ve noticed a gentle pulse from one or the other before the other’s magic response to help. Like they naturally seek each other out. I’ve done more talking with them, and it seems Papyrus was the first monster Frisk truly befriended in the Underground. He then was a huge support for them throughout. I even tried to observe this in monster monster groups. It happens to a lesser degree between parental figures and children, but not to this extent.”

“I have heard of the soul thing a little bit. Any more experience with that? The Queen tried to teach the Grand Supreme about it, but it is still largely a mystery.”

“I haven’t. There was someone that was going to show me, but,” Beatrix shrugged, and tried not to look too glum. She spared a thought once again to what it was she did wrong. “Well… I believe I saw Papyrus’s soul, but it was such a quick thing that… well. I haven’t had any in depth research into it.” The moment Papyrus and herself had touched the cores of each other had long since stopped feeling real. “I can’t exactly go ask a bunch of monsters to see their souls though. It is apparently a very private thing.”

“Makes sense,” Madeline said, and they both drank some of their tea. Beatrix looked out her window, and watched some leaves fall. “I have been taken as the Grand Supreme’s Apprentice.”

Beatrix whipped her head back around to Madeline so fast that she tweaked a muscle in her neck. “Ow, fuck, what?”

Madeline laughed. “I am training to be the next Grand Supreme.” Beatrix just stared at her with her mouth open. Madeline laughed a little again, but it sounded more nervous this time.

“That’s amazing!” Beatrix quickly said. “Sorry, I didn’t think that was what you were visiting me for. You threw me. That’s amazing.”

“Thank you,” Madeline said, and looked into her teacup. “She actually asked me a while ago, but I wasn’t sure. I am not sure if I will make a very good Grand Supreme.”

“Of course you will!”

“I’ve never been even a Supreme, or a Warden for that matter,” Madeline said, and looked a little sad. “I actually haven’t had a lot of contact with Wells in general. It’s why I said no at first. But the Grand Supreme insisted. I figured why not give it a shot,” Madeline shrugged. Beatrix set aside her own cup, and joined Madeline on the couch. She cuddled up to her side.

“You are going to be a great Grand Supreme.”

“I’m still not so sure,” Madeline said, and leaned her head against Beatrix’s. “I haven’t told anyone but you.”

“Oh I am sure Magda will be pissed when she finds out.”

“I don’t doubt that. It’s part of the reason we haven’t made it well known. But I wanted to let you know.”

“I’ll do whatever I can to help, whenever you need it,” Beatrix said. Madeline smiled, and kissed her forehead.

“I know Bea-Bea.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Short but necessary chapter. We gunna be in the thick of it soon lads.
> 
> Also I am at 20 chapters wow!


	21. Chapter 21

Beatrix entered the Royal Household the morning of Halloween to pick up Papyrus and Frisk. She had been asked to help provide some ‘atmospheric’ magic for the haunted house. Earlier in the week she had met Napstablook who would be the main attraction of the haunted house. She had even met the monsters’ greatest star: Mettaton. The robot had been a lot like Undyne, but also a small level of charming. The two had taken her through a dry run of the haunted house (Mettaton’s own in town), and explained what they were looking for. Beatrix had been really impressed with the background sounds, and then music in entrance and exit. Napstablook had, it seemed with no small amount of shyness, told her it was something they had made themselves. They were a musician, and were also planning on selling some spooky CDs that night (“Blooky’s first aboveground you know!” Mettaton had been sure to add with a wink).

Of course all planning she was doing in her head for the spells she was going to cast grinded to a halt in Beatrix’s head as she passed the living room entrance. She turned her head as she went by because she heard snoring, and there he was.

Sans was passed out on the couch, and his hood was off.

Beatrix froze in place. She remembered she had seen his face for the briefest amount of time when Frisk was in danger from the Well, but obviously she had had more pressing matters to attend to than studying him. She didn’t have such an issue at this moment.

The damage was worse than what she remembered, or maybe it had gotten worse?

The cracks seemed deeper, and wider in daylight. Were he not snoring Beatrix could have easily mistaken him for an oddly proportioned human skeleton. For the first time she noticed that his bones were duller than Papyrus’s. His skull had more of a gray pallor to it compared to Papyrus’s snow white. She wondered if it was a natural variation, or if it had to due with the crack across his face. She wondered, too, at the origins of said crack.

Beatrix jumped when she was swept off her feet. A gloved hand clamped over her mouth before she could scream.

As quickly as she had come across the sleeping skeleton, she was whisked back out the front door.

Papyrus set her on her feet. He had an odd look on his face. It was… almost angry. “Don't ever tell him you saw that,” he said, quietly. Beatrix took a step back from Papyrus’s tone, and the fact his eye sockets had gone completely black. “Don’t ever talk to him about it.”

“It’s okay Papyrus,” Toriel said. She had just stepped out, and closed the door behind her. Silently. Frisk ran around her, and tugged on Papyrus’s hand until he picked them up. It snapped him out of it, the color came back to his eyes, and his face flushed orange.

“Sorry,” he said, and wouldn’t look at Beatrix. “I meant to meet you outside, but I lost track of time. He only just got back.”

“What-?”

“It isn’t our place to say,” Toriel said, cutting off Beatrix. Beatrix swallowed, hard, on her questions about the how. They all stood silently for a moment.

“Does it hurt him?”

“We don’t know.”

“He won’t tell us,” Papyrus added to Toriel’s mournful admission.

“But we are doing all we can for him.”

“Is there anything I can do?” Beatrix asked. Toriel shrugged helplessly.

“I doubt it, my child. He barely allows me to tend to it.”

“It looks like it was worse from the first time I saw it…”

“You already-? Ah, I understand,” Toriel said when Frisk signed quickly to her behind Papyrus. Beatrix figured they were explaining, and she put her own arms around herself.

“Please don’t bring it up to him?” Papyrus asked. Beatrix smiled in a way she hoped was reassuring to him, and made herself bump him with her shoulder. The angry monster that had shown his face moments earlier was completely gone. Still, with her touch he seemed to relax even more.

“I won’t, I promise. But where has he been?”

Here Papyrus and Toriel glanced at each other.

“He had been visiting some other monster areas for the King and I, to check on them,” Toriel said. Beatrix tapped her fingers on her own arm. She didn’t believe Toriel, and Toriel could tell.

Beatrix looked at her feet. “It’s okay,” she said when she saw something like guilt in Toriel’s eyes. She looked back at the Queen, and smiled again. “I understand.” And she did. She was sure there were things Toriel couldn’t tell her, just as Beatrix had things she couldn’t tell Toriel. “But, we need to go. Napstablook and Mettaton are waiting.”

At the mention of the robot’s name, Frisk whipped their head to Papyrus, and a smirk slowly came across their face.

“You didn’t tell me Mettaton would be there,” they signed, slow and large. Papyrus’s face went orange again.

“It’s not a big deal!” he said, but his voice was an octive higher. Even so he started walking, swiftly, towards the sidewalk while still carrying Frisk. Beatrix laughed, glad the serious air had faded.

“Have fun,” Toriel called, and put a hand on Beatrix’s shoulder. “Beatrix-”

“It’s okay,” Beatrix said again, and patted Toriel’s hand. “Just… let me know if there is anything I can do. Maybe some mage magic could…” Beatrix shrugged. Toriel sighed.

“I don’t think he will ever allow it. But, if I were ever able to suggest it,” Toriel shared her shrug. “We will be there later for the haunted house dear.”

“We’ll catch you later,” Beatrix said, squeezed her hand, and then jogged to catch up to the other two.

“I am excited to dress up too,” Papyrus was saying when Beatrix got to them. “Napstablook told me I’d be in the ‘medical’ room with Alphys. I am really excited to try having organs.”

“Ew,” Frisk said with a face.

“Ew indeed. At least they will be made out of… what was it?”

“Biodegradable plastic that Alphys made. But will it really be okay to scare people though?” Papyrus asked. “We’ve heard that… people sometimes hit when they get scared.”

“You guys will be fine. Everything will be roped off so people can’t get over to you, and any actors that get into faces will be human. Frank is as excited to be ‘skeletonfied’ as you are to be humanfied,” Beatrix said. Frank had jumped at the chance to be part of the haunted house. Linda had then been roped in to being the ticket sales person. 

“I wish I could be a part,” Frisk said with a dreamy look.

“Trust me, you’d be wishing you got candy if you didn’t go trick-or-treating first. Plus you will be part of it! You are going to help me set up the special effects.”

“What will we be doing?” Frisk asked.

“Making some misting in certain rooms, adding chill and heat to others. Making each room sound-proof to the next, and setting up additional barriers so that humans can’t get over to monsters.”

“Last thing we need is someone getting in an encounter accidentally.”

“Yeah, you guys have explained it so much to me, and I still don’t get it.”

“We really need to get around to showing you that,” Papyrus agreed. They turned off the mainside walk onto the path that led up the front door to Mettaton’s rather large house. It was the second largest in the monster’s side of town.

Said door flew open before they got to it. “Papyrus darling!” Mettaton sang upon seeing the skeleton. Papyrus immediately lit up orange again.

“H-hey!”

“Hand them over bone-boy,” Mettaton said, and reached for Frisk who laughed as they were passed into Mettaton’s noodle arms. They kissed his boxed front on one ‘check’ and then the other. “Oh you remembered that I like the French kiss!”

“That is  _ not  _ what that is called,” Beatrix said.

“What? Of course it is! That is how they do it there!”

“Mettaton, trust me, it is not how the French kiss. Please do not say that to another human,” Beatrix said.

“Do explain the difference then, love.”

“Uh… Maybe… later, when children are not present,” Beatrix said. Frisk scowled.

“I can know!”

“I prefer to keep Toriel as a friend, thank you.”

“Oh, it is  _ scandalous,  _ then,” Mettaton said. “Papyrus you will need to be present when Beatrix explains then. You do blush so prettily.”

Said blush rose immediately.

“So, where is Napstablook?” Beatrix asked, and cleared her throat.

“Inside, oh,” Mettaton said, and put Frisk down so they could run off inside. The three followed. “Your guardsman, Fred or whatever it was, is present already as is his lady love. Both are helping prep his room. Alphys is already in the medical room Papyrus, if you’d like to join her. Undyne is with her. Please try to impress upon her the need for herself to get ready. Thank goodness that Muffet and her fellows are such professionals or I would be worried we wouldn’t get ready in time. Beatrix, Napstablook is in the dummy room getting our cousins to understand they aren’t actually going to attack anyone. I need to make sure my makeup artists have everything they need. After you finish with the spells and whatnot, you will need to go see them for your makeup. Still not willing to be turned into the angel you are?”

Beatrix laughed at that. “I am sure, Mettaton. I don’t feel like an angel has the right feel for the house. Besides, the other guides will be skeletons too.”

“Yes, that is true I suppose. I would just hate for us to be too overbalanced with skeletons. Especially when the one we have already is so great,” Mettaton said, and touched Papyrus’s elbow. Predictably he blushed again.

“I am pretty g-great, huh?” Papyrus said, and Mettaton laughed. But it wasn’t a mean one, and it made Papyrus seem to glow.

“Huh,” Beatrix said.

“What is it?”

“Your magics reached for each other.”

“Did they?” Papyrus asked.

“Is that...significant?” Mettaton asked. Beatrix explained her research to him. “Ah, in that case I am not entirely surprised. Who would not want to share magic with our dear friend here.”

Beatrix smiled. Friend didn’t seem to be a strong enough word for what exactly these two were. But still, it was an interesting new angle her research could look at. Their magic reaching hadn’t had the same feel as when it happened between Frisk and Papyrus. She always got a feeling that transaction had a mentorly feel to it. This was more… she wanted to compare it to when one got hugged really tightly by someone they had a crush on. And, she supposed, that was a pretty accurate label for what might be happening. It seemed magical mingling had a lot more aspects to it than just a tool for teaching.

“Here we are,” Mettaton sang as they came into the dummy room. It was filled with different mannequins. Napstablook and Frisk were talking to two of them. “I will leave you to it, and escort you, Papyrus, to your station. See you for make-up darling.”

Beatrix waved them off, and went to Napstablook to get her orders on where to start.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Last chapter was really short, so how about this one be REALLY LONG Y'ALL
> 
> OH SHIT look at the kudos.
> 
> haha.
> 
> it's the dirty number. nice. now everyone has to keep kudoing until it gets to 420 so we can get another nice up in here.
> 
> Don't worry I can hear your booing from here.


	22. Chapter 22

The haunted house turned out, in a word, fantastic!

Each of the six rooms had been themed to a specific monster, and human fear. The first room was Undyne’s where she was dressed up as a shark. The group would be led by their guide across a bridge above water (which Beatrix had helped set up). Undyne would swim around, and jump up ‘take out’ one of the humans from the tour group. This was actually one of a couple of planted paid actors Mettaton had made friends with, and each had a special made amulet to let them breathe underwater. Once both were back under water Undyne would make a big frothing commotion in the water, and the actor would break open one of several large containers of fake blood. Magic would clear out the fake blood before the next group came through.

From there the guide would lead their group into the next room that was the dummy room. Even the guides wouldn’t know which dummy would be possessed by the two dummy monsters. But possess them they would, and make them quickly chase after the group to push them on into a hall that would lead to the next attraction. Beatrix had set several wards in the room that would prevent the group from hurting the dummies, but should they fail the dummy monsters were, as she was assured, good at taking a hit. Plus they had a stash of something to heal them up should the worst happen. Beatrix was  _ very  _ interested in learning more about that, and had been promised she would be shown at a later date.

The third room would have them lose another actor hidden in their party to Muffet, and her spiders. They would step on a web, and be sucked up towards a ceiling shadowed with magic. Muffet would then descend with some of her bigger spiders, and shoot webs at the group. Beyond that they wouldn’t touch them.

Papyrus and Alphys’ room was next. Alphys would be ‘operating’ on a humanized Papyrus (thanks to a glamour). She would pull out several fake organs that were disturbingly realistic looking despite being not quite the correct shape of human insides. Papyrus would be screaming his head off the entire time. This all took place behind a glass wall so the final actor in the group would be safe. For that room.

The dog guards had volunteered for the next room, and were playing wholly unterrifying werewolves despite being the doom of the last actor. They would drag them off to ‘werewolfify’ them thanks to another glamour. It also happened to be one of two rooms that younger groups were taken into (the other being Muffet’s; the actor abductions didn’t happen for the kids). In both instances the group would have to figure out to throw something to get the werewolves distracted for them to pass. A tennis ball for kids, and some hot dogs for the adults. There also was a random occurrence where a monster called Endogeny would show up. In which case the group would need to toss a Hush Puppy. This wasn’t super frequent, however, as it seemed very rough on Endogeny. Mostly they stood back, and watched the other dogs work.

The final room was Mettaton’s room, and was a very… avante garde in its theme. It played on the fear of death, and Mettaton was also wearing a glamour to seem much more human. Frank was in this room as well posed as the Grim Reaper. Napstablook had some haunting melody playing, and, at the crescendo, Frank would reap Mettaton. Mettaton’s head would detach from his robotic body, there would be some pyrotechnics, Mettaton would fall in a trap door, and Napstablook would take his place. Napstablook would then be their ghostly self, scare the group to make the group run out the exit of the building where there were refreshments, the abducted actors, Napstablook’s CDs and Mettaton movies for sale. Linda was overseeing the money for those, and donations for tours. It was a chill outdoor area with kid friendly decorations for people to calm back down before heading out.

Overall? The night was going really well.

“nice look,” Sans said when she came across him after dropping off her latest, deliriously scared to laughing group in the cool down area. His hood was firmly back in place even if it was a new one that had bunny ears on it. He had escorted Frisk and Toriel while they trick-or-treated.

Beatrix looked down at herself as she honestly had forgotten that she was made into a skeleton. The makeup she was wearing was really light, and she didn’t even feel it. And she had to use far less magic than she thought she would have to to make the effect perfect. Currently, thanks to both the makeup and magic, her body was widely see-through aside from where her false bones were painted on. Her makeup bones were also faintly glowing to help her groups keep an eye on her in the dimness of the house.

“Thanks. The artists really did an amazing job right?”

“yeah, everyone looks amazing. how is it being a big ol’ bag of bones?” he asked, and followed her as she made her way over to a volunteer only area. She grabbed some spooky punch, and offered Sans a cup. He took it, but didn’t drink.

“I would say fulfilling, but, well,” she gestured vaguely at how he could see the punch table vaguely through her torso.

“weird.”

“Yeah I keep seeing myself in reflective surfaces, and have a moment where I freak out.”

“how did you do it?”

“I have a crystal in my pocket that convinces people that there is nothing here. If you try hard enough it fails, but most people want to be scared so it hasn’t failed. That I know of.”

Sans was silent for a bit, and seemed to be staring. Then he chuckled. “ah, there you are.”

“Did you just make my glamour fail for you?”

“yeah. it is weird seeing you as a skeleton. it’s better to see you with some skin on your bones,” he said, and bumped her with his elbow. She snorted at him, but was secretly incredibly relieved that it seemed he wasn’t upset about their previous interactions. She smiled a little to herself while looking out at the relaxing volunteers. “knock knock.”

“Who's there?” she asked automatically.

“what?”

She looked at him. “You said knock knock?”

“no i didn’t, wh-” he was cut off by a chorus of screams. They both turned towards the house, but the group that was currently exiting the house looked just as confused. “do you feel that?”

Beatrix was touching her chest at the same moment Sans reached up to hold the cracked side of his head. It seemed like there was a sudden hole in her chest corresponding to a hole in the magical fabric of the world. “Are you doing that?” she asked on a gasp. The hole seemed to have punched her in the chest, and knocked the wind out of her. It felt almost like right before he appeared when he teleported. Only the teleport never finished, and the magic gathered around a hole without ever snapping back into place.

“no,” Sans said, strained, and grabbed her arm. She could almost swear she heard the start of a knock knock joke again, but didn’t have a moment to contemplate it before he moved them through space to the unexplainable hole in the world.

They popped back into existence near the field Beatrix had helped heal a handful of months ago. They landed in front of Toriel, the King, and Frisk. And a panicked looking reporter that had been following the Royal Family around for Halloween. Toriel had Frisk in their arms, and the King had a trident in his hand.

Beatrix turned to where the hole in the world was, and it took her breath away because it was a monster.

Not a monster like those she had come to befriend, but a true, honest to god, monster. It was like someone hole punched the shape of a wild boar out of the world. It was a black hole that was sucking in magic around it, and made furious threads of orange and red disappear into it. Despite having no eyes she knew it was staring right at them.

She wanted to vomit. The very  _ wrongness  _ of the… thing was making her physically ill. “What the fuck is that?” she choked.

“We don’t know,” the King said.

“It already took someone,” Toriel added.

Beatrix gathered a fistfull of magical threads in both her hands. It was incredibly dangerous to draw directly from the Well. The magic could rebel at being controlled, and harm the user as had happened to her several times previously. The magic could wrap around oneself, and make them succumb to the siren song of the Well. It was always, always better to use jarred magic.

Even so, the threads bent to Beatrix’s will with very little protest despite the discordant screaming that was coming from the Well.

The creature took a step, and Beatrix automatically threw a ball of fire at it. For a moment the black was swallowed by fire, but then it started swirling until the magic was consumed. Beatrix grabbed more magic. In quick succession she threw wind, rocks, and water at the creature. Each time they disappeared into the hole. And each time it seemed to get bigger. And it didn’t stop walking towards them.

“get back,” Sans said. He stepped past her, and raised his hand. His eye, from the darkness of the hood, and his hand glowed with cyan magic. The creature froze into place.

“Can you get rid of it?” Toriel asked. Sans grunted. Several tense moments passed. His arm started to shake.

The creature took an agonizing step forward. The movement pushed Sans a corresponding amount back into Beatrix.

“no you don’t,” Sans hissed when it tried to take another. He clenched his fist. Immediately in about a thirty foot radius the amount of gravity seemed to increase. Beatrix, and any other humans nearby, were forced to the ground. It varied for monsters; some were laid flat, and some were forced only to a knee. Beatrix could hear Sans huffing for breath.

A high pitched whine started to sound, and slowly increased in pitch even as the gravity seemed to increase.

Beatrix could hear a quiet cracking noise. She feared it was her ribs.

“Sans,” Toriel grunted as she too was forced further towards the ground. It started to feel like Beatrix’s head might implode from the pressure, and the whine was reaching deafening levels. Sans’s arm was shaking again. The gravity around the creature seemed to be so intense that the magic it had been sucking into itself had slowed, and was being forced to bend out of its arch and towards the ground. “Sans!” Toriel shouted.

Sans threw up his other hand, and clenched that fist too. The creature crunched like a soda can, and there was a loud crack. It seemed to sink in on itself ,and the hole in the world sealed itself back up. Gravity reverted to its normal amount. Beatrix could breathe again.

Sans crumpled as if he were a puppet whose strings had been cut. The light faded from his eye, but, before it disappeared, Beatrix could see that the crack on the other side of his face had gotten worse.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> i have been picturing this chapter for WEEKS, and have been DYING to get to it!
> 
> MANIACAL LAUGH
> 
> Also someone suggest me names for that reporter mentioned in literally one line. I haven't even decided anything about them other than like three things. pretty sure they are going to be a girl, but maybe not! Or maybe they will be nonbinary or trans! We just don't know!!!! Comment your suggestions please thanks.
> 
> but on a more serious note, I hope everyone is staying safe out there. or should I say in there. I'm not going to talk about it because I myself and sick to death of hearing about it, but I know everyone's lives are being impacted by this.
> 
> that said: don't let yourselves stagnate. make an art. read a book (or fic). spread joy as much as you can.
> 
> I might go ahead and rewatch some lotr so that I can hit by those inspirational quotes from gandalf such as
> 
> “I wish it need not have happened in my time,” said Frodo. “So do I,” said Gandalf, “and so do all who live to see such times. But that is not for them to decide. All we have to decide is what to do with the time that is given us.”
> 
> And sam's “It's like the great stories, Mr. Frodo, the ones that really mattered. Full of darkness and danger they were, and sometimes you didn't want to know the end because how could the end be happy? How could the world go back to the way it was when so much bad has happened? But in the end, it's only a passing thing this shadow, even darkness must pass. A new day will come, and when the sun shines, it'll shine out the clearer. I know now folks in those stories had lots of chances of turning back, only they didn't. They kept going because they were holding on to something. That there's some good in this world, Mr. Frodo, and it's worth fighting for.”
> 
> Be the good in the world everyone, and inspire that good in others.


End file.
